---
title: His tongue could they not understand, but his torn hands all shrivel… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: His tongue could they not understand, but his torn hands all shriveled with famine, He stretched to the hunters and said: "He feedeth his chosen with manna; And ye are the angels of God, sent to save me from death in the desert." Who acts: tongue, ye. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanf
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/10/14/)

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# Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 3, sentence 14

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His tongue could they not understand, but his torn hands all shriveled with famine, He stretched to the hunters and said: "He feedeth his chosen with manna; And ye are the angels of God, sent to save me from death in the desert."

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**Who acts:** tongue, ye · **What happens:** not understand, tear, shrivel, stretch, say, feed · **To what, where:** torn hands, hunters, Unktómee, angels, tongue, death · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tongue, ye), 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:pg8122:10:14
# text = His tongue could they not understand, but his torn hands all shriveled with famine, He stretched to the hunters and said: "He feedeth his chosen with manna; And ye are the angels of God, sent to save me from death in the desert."
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	understand	understand	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
10	torn	tear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	amod	_	_
11	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	all	all	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	shriveled	shrivel	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	ccomp	_	_
14	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	famine	famine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	stretched	stretch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	hunters	hunter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
25	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	feedeth	feed	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	ccomp	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	chosen	choose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	acl	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	manna	manna	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	_
33	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
34	ye	ye	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	37	nsubj	_	_
35	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	angels	angel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
41	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	acl	_	_
42	to	to	PART	TO	_	43	mark	_	_
43	save	save	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	advcl	_	_
44	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	43	obj	_	_
45	from	from	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
47	in	in	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **understand** | could | Unktómee's tongue |  |  |  |  | braves *= brave* *nsubj* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **tear** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **shrivel** | participle · passive |  | Unktómee's torn hands |  |  |  | with famine; all *property* | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with famine=Instrument |
| 4 | **stretch** | past | tongue |  |  | the hunters |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to hunter=Location |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | tongue *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **feed** *in a quote* | present | tongue | Unktómee |  |  |  |  | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent his=Recipient |
| 7 | **choose** *in a quote* | participle |  |  |  |  |  | with manna | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | ye | the angels |  |  |  | of God | tree rules |
| 9 | **send** *in a quote* | participle |  | the angels *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **save** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | tongue |  | death |  | in the desert | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent i=Theme from death=Source |

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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:** «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, Project Gutenberg book 8122 (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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