---
title: Therefore the elder said, To test his brother’s truth: “The feather… — Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems · tree and pragmatics
description: Therefore the elder said, To test his brother’s truth: “The feather of an owl Is the one thing on earth Which e’er can end my life.” Who acts: elder, feather, one thing. A sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems, Opening, part 4, sentence 8

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Therefore the elder said, To test his brother’s truth: “The feather of an owl Is the one thing on earth Which e’er can end my life.”

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**Who acts:** elder, feather, one thing · **What happens:** say, test, be, end · **To what, where:** truth, one thing, life · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (elder, feather, one thing), 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:pg78673:4:8
# text = Therefore the elder said, To test his brother’s truth: “The feather of an owl Is the one thing on earth Which e’er can end my life.”
1	Therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	elder	elder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	To	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	test	test	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	’s	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	feather	feather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
19	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	nummod	_	_
22	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	conj	_	_
25	Which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	26	det	_	_
26	e’er	e'er	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	end	end	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
29	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the elder |  |  |  |  | therefore *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **test** | to-infinitive |  | elder's brother's truth |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent truth=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | the feather of a owl | the one thing and earth  which e’er |  |  |  | earth  which e’er *conj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **end** *in a quote* | can | the one thing and earth  which e’er | my life |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality life=Eventuality |

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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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