---
title: On a dead, withered branch sits a crow, down-peering askance at the… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: On a dead, withered branch sits a crow, down-peering askance at the old man; On the marge of the river below romp the nut-brown and merry-voiced children, And the dark waters silently flow, broad and deep, to the plunge of the Ha-ha. Who acts: dark waters. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 6, sentence 63

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On a dead, withered branch sits a crow, down-peering askance at the old man; On the marge of the river below romp the nut-brown and merry-voiced children, And the dark waters silently flow, broad and deep, to the plunge of the Ha-ha.

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**Who acts:** dark waters · **What happens:** sit, peer, romp, flow, plunge · **To what, where:** crow, dead withered branch, askance, marge, Ha

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dark waters), 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:pg8122:13:63
# text = On a dead, withered branch sits a crow, down-peering askance at the old man; On the marge of the river below romp the nut-brown and merry-voiced children, And the dark waters silently flow, broad and deep, to the plunge of the Ha-ha.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
3	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	withered	withered	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	branch	branch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
7	sits	sit	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	crow	crow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	down	down	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	peering	peer	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
14	askance	askance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
20	On	on	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	marge	marge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
26	below	below	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
27	romp	romp	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
29	nut	nut	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	brown	brown	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	ccomp	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
33	merry	merry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	voiced	voiced	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
38	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nsubj	_	_
42	silently	silently	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
43	flow	flow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
45	broad	broad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	advmod	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
49	to	to	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	plunge	plunge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
52	of	of	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	Ha	Ha	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	51	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	56	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	ha	ha	INTJ	UH	_	54	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | present |  | a crow |  | a dead withered branch |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent crow=Theme on branch=Location |
| 2 | **peer** | gerund |  | askance |  |  |  | at the old man; down *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **romp** | present |  |  |  | the marge of the river |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on marge=Trajectory |
| 4 | **flow** | present | the dark waters |  |  |  |  | to the plunge of the Ha; silently *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **plunge** |  |  | the Ha |  |  |  |  | nom plunge «act transitive»: of=patient |

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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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