---
title: [a] they answered his words, for he read from his book in the Latin,… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: [a] they answered his words, for he read from his book in the Latin, Lest the Nazarene's holy commands by his tongue should be marred in translation; And oft with his beads in his hands, or the cross and the crucified Jesus, He knelt by himself on the sands, and his dim eyes uplifted to heaven. Who 
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 3, sentence 20

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\[a\] they answered his words, for he read from his book in the Latin, Lest the Nazarene's holy commands by his tongue should be marred in translation; And oft with his beads in his hands, or the cross and the crucified Jesus, He knelt by himself on the sands, and his dim eyes uplifted to heaven.

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**Who acts:** birds, Wakán, tongue · **What happens:** answer, read, mar, crucify, kneel, uplift · **To what, where:** words, book, translation, dim eyes, sands, Nazarene · **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 (birds, Wakán, tongue), 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:pg8122:10:20
# text = [a] they answered his words, for he read from his book in the Latin, Lest the Nazarene's holy commands by his tongue should be marred in translation; And oft with his beads in his hands, or the cross and the crucified Jesus, He knelt by himself on the sands, and his dim eyes uplifted to heaven.
1	[	[	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	5	punct	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	read	read	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	Latin	Latin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	Lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	24	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	Nazarene	Nazarene	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	's	's	PART	POS	_	21	case	_	_
23	holy	holy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	commands	command	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	_
25	by	by	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
28	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
29	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	aux:pass	_	_
30	marred	mar	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	conj	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	translation	translation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	35	punct	_	_
34	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	oft	oft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
36	with	with	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	beads	bead	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obl	_	_
39	in	in	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
43	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	cross	cross	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	parataxis	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	crucified	crucify	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	49	amod	_	_
49	Jesus	Jesus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	45	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
51	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
52	knelt	kneel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	conj	_	_
53	by	by	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	52	obl	_	_
55	on	on	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
57	sands	sand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
59	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
60	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	62	nmod:poss	_	_
61	dim	dim	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	amod	_	_
62	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	obl	_	_
63	uplifted	uplift	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	62	acl	_	_
64	to	to	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
65	heaven	heaven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	63	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	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 | birds *= bird* | Wakán's words |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent word=Eventuality |
| 2 | **read** | past | Wakán |  |  | Wakán's book in the Latin |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Agent from book=Source |
| 3 | **mar** | should · passive | Wakán *not said here* |  |  | translation |  | lest the Nazarene's holy commands by Wakán's tongue | tree rules |
| 4 | **crucify** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **kneel** | past | Wakán | Wakán's dim eyes |  | the sands |  | by Wakán | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by himself=Location |
| 6 | **uplift** | participle |  | Wakán's dim eyes *not said here* |  |  |  | to heaven | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **word** |  | Wakán |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 8 | **command** |  | Wakán's tongue | the Nazarene |  |  |  |  | nom command «communication transitive»: poss=patient by=agent |

<!-- .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.

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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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