--- title: Like two flying coursers that strain, on the track, neck and neck, o… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics description: Like two flying coursers that strain, on the track, neck and neck, on the home-stretch, With nostrils distended, and mane froth-flecked, and the neck and the shoulders, Each urged to his best by the cry and the whip and the rein of his rider, Now they skim o'er the waters and fly, side by side, neck --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/12/90/) [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/) / [Legends of the Northwest](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/) / [The Feast of the Virgins., part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/12/) / 90 # Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 5, sentence 90 Like two flying coursers that strain, on the track, neck and neck, on the home-stretch, With nostrils distended, and mane froth-flecked, and the neck and the shoulders, Each urged to his best by the cry and the whip and the rein of his rider, Now they skim o'er the waters and fly, side by side, neck and neck, through the meadows. **Who acts:** two flying coursers, Each, cry · **What happens:** fly, strain, distend, fleck, urge, skim · **To what, where:** track, nostrils, mane, side, meadows 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 (two flying coursers, Each, cry), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg8122:12:91 # text = Like two flying coursers that strain, on the track, neck and neck, on the home-stretch, With nostrils distended, and mane froth-flecked, and the neck and the shoulders, Each urged to his best by the cry and the whip and the rein of his rider, Now they skim o'er the waters and fly, side by side, neck and neck, through the meadows. 1 Like like ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 2 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 4 nummod _ _ 3 flying fly VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 4 amod _ _ 4 coursers courser NOUN NNS Number=Plur 0 root _ _ 5 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 6 nsubj _ _ 6 strain strain VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 8 on on ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 track track NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 12 neck neck NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 conj _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 14 neck neck NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 16 on on ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 18 home home NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 19 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 18 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 20 stretch stretch NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 22 With with ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 23 nostrils nostril NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 nmod _ _ 24 distended distend VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 23 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 27 mane mane ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 nsubj:pass _ _ 28 froth froth NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 29 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 28 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 30 flecked fleck VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 4 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 neck neck NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 shoulders shoulder NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 39 Each each DET DT PronType=Tot 40 nsubj _ _ 40 urged urge VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 conj _ _ 41 to to ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 43 nmod:poss _ _ 43 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 40 obl _ _ 44 by by ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 cry cry NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obl _ _ 47 and and CCONJ CC _ 49 cc _ _ 48 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 49 whip whip NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 conj _ _ 50 and and CCONJ CC _ 52 cc _ _ 51 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 52 det _ _ 52 rein rein NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 conj _ _ 53 of of ADP IN _ 55 case _ _ 54 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 55 nmod:poss _ _ 55 rider rider NOUN NN Number=Sing 52 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 56 , , PUNCT , _ 59 punct _ _ 57 Now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 59 advmod _ _ 58 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 59 nsubj _ _ 59 skim skim VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 40 parataxis _ _ 60 o'er o'er ADP IN _ 62 case _ _ 61 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 62 det _ _ 62 waters water NOUN NNS Number=Plur 59 obl _ _ 63 and and CCONJ CC _ 64 cc _ _ 64 fly fly VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 59 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 65 , , PUNCT , _ 66 punct _ _ 66 side side NOUN NN Number=Sing 64 obl _ _ 67 by by ADP IN _ 68 case _ _ 68 side side NOUN NN Number=Sing 66 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 69 , , PUNCT , _ 70 punct _ _ 70 neck neck NOUN NN Number=Sing 66 appos _ _ 71 and and CCONJ CC _ 72 cc _ _ 72 neck neck NOUN NN Number=Sing 70 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 73 , , PUNCT , _ 76 punct _ _ 74 through through ADP IN _ 76 case _ _ 75 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 76 det _ _ 76 meadows meadow NOUN NNS Number=Plur 64 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 77 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **fly** | gerund | | | | | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **strain** | present | two flying coursers | | | the track and neck and neck | | on the home stretch with nostrils | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **distend** | participle | | nostrils *not said here* | | | | | vn bend-45.2 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 4 | **fleck** | participle · passive | two flying coursers *not said here* | mane | | | | the neck and the shoulders *obl*; froth *compound* | vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP»: subject=Destination | | 5 | **urge** | past | Each | | | | | to necklet's best by the cry and the whip and the rein of necklet's rider | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **skim** | present | cry | | | | now | o'er the waters | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **fly** | infinitive | cry *not said here* | side by side | | the meadows | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through meadow=Location | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 89](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/12/89/) - next →: [sentence 91](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/12/91/) - ↑ back to [The Feast of the Virgins., part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/12/)