---
title: They answered that being hungry They were trying to fell the tree, A… — Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems · tree and pragmatics
description: They answered that being hungry They were trying to fell the tree, And bring it down by dancing. Who acts: Twas. A sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 18, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems, Opening, part 18, sentence 134

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They answered that being hungry They were trying to fell the tree, And bring it down by dancing.

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**Who acts:** Twas · **What happens:** answer, be, try, fall, bring down, dance · **To what, where:** tree · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Twas), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg78673:18:134
# text = They answered that being hungry They were trying to fell the tree, And bring it down by dancing.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	cop	_	_
5	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	ccomp	_	_
6	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	parataxis	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	down	down	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
18	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
19	dancing	dance	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | Twas *= twa* |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **try** | past · progressive | Twas *= twa* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **fall** | past | Twas *= twa* *not said here* | the tree |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient tree=Result |
| 5 | **bring down** | infinitive | Twas *= twa* *not said here* | tree |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 6 | **dance** | gerund | Twas *= twa* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Project Gutenberg book 78673 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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