---
title: Merry is the life of the gay _voyageur_ He rides on the river with h… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: Merry is the life of the gay _voyageur_ He rides on the river with his paddle in his hand, And his boat is his shelter on the water and the land. Who acts: Merry, boat. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 5, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 5, sentence 59

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Merry is the life of the gay \_voyageur\_ He rides on the river with his paddle in his hand, And his boat is his shelter on the water and the land.

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**Who acts:** Merry, boat · **What happens:** be, ride · **To what, where:** life, river, shelter, water

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Merry, boat), 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:pg8122:12:60
# text = Merry is the life of the gay _voyageur_ He rides on the river with his paddle in his hand, And his boat is his shelter on the water and the land.
1	Merry	Merry	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	gay	gay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	voyageur	voyageur	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	12	punct	_	_
11	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	rides	ride	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	paddle	paddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
23	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
26	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	shelter	shelter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
29	on	on	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Merry | the life |  |  |  | of the gay and voyageur | tree rules |
| 2 | **ride** | present | Merry |  |  | the river |  | with Merry's paddle; in Merry's hand | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | present | Merry's boat | Merry's shelter |  | the water and the land |  | Merry *nmod:poss* | tree rules |

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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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