---
title: Now ere they were born, The two a council held That they might decid… — Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems · tree and pragmatics
description: Now ere they were born, The two a council held That they might decide How they would be born. Who acts: council, That. A sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/4/1/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Kulóskap the master, and other Algonki…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/) / [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/4/) / 1

# Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems, Opening, part 4, sentence 1

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now ere they were born, The two a council held That they might decide How they would be born.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** council, That · **What happens:** bear, hold, decide · **To what, where:** they, two · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (council, That), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg78673:4:1
# text = Now ere they were born, The two a council held That they might decide How they would be born.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	ere	ere	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	obl	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	council	council	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
12	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	nsubj	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	decide	decide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	advcl	_	_
16	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bear** | past · passive |  | they |  |  | now | ere *property* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **hold** | past | a council | the two |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **decide** | might | That |  |  |  |  | they *nsubj* | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **bear** | would · passive |  | they |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Opening, part 3, 120](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/3/120/)
- next →: [sentence 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/4/2/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/4/)