---
title: To the dim moon the gray owl preferred, from the tree top, his shril… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: To the dim moon the gray owl preferred, from the tree top, his shrill lamentation, And around her at midnight she heard the dread famine-cries of the gray wolves. Who acts: Ta, bow, gray wolves. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 7, wit
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 7, sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To the dim moon the gray owl preferred, from the tree top, his shrill lamentation, And around her at midnight she heard the dread famine-cries of the gray wolves.

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**Who acts:** Ta, bow, gray wolves · **What happens:** prefer, hear, lament, cry · **To what, where:** gray owl, tree top, dread famine cries

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ta, bow, gray wolves), 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:pg8122:14:28
# text = To the dim moon the gray owl preferred, from the tree top, his shrill lamentation, And around her at midnight she heard the dread famine-cries of the gray wolves.
1	To	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	dim	dim	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	moon	moon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	gray	gray	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	preferred	prefer	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
16	shrill	shrill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	lamentation	lamentation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	around	around	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
22	at	at	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	midnight	midnight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
24	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
27	dread	dread	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
28	famine	famine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	cries	cry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	gray	gray	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	_
34	wolves	wolf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prefer** | participle |  | the gray owl to the dim moon and Ta's midnight *not said here* |  | the tree top and bow's shrill lamentation |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **hear** | past | Ta | the dread famine cries of the gray wolves |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer cry=Stimulus |
| 4 | **lament** |  | bow |  |  |  |  |  | nom lamentation «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 5 | **cry** |  | the gray wolves |  |  |  |  |  | nom cry «communication intransitive»: of=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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