---
title: Sadly moans the mighty river, foaming down the fettered falls, Where… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: Sadly moans the mighty river, foaming down the fettered falls, Where of old he thundered ever o'er abrupt and lofty walls. Who acts: ne'er. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Legend of the Falls., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, The Legend of the Falls., sentence 9

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Sadly moans the mighty river, foaming down the fettered falls, Where of old he thundered ever o'er abrupt and lofty walls.

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**Who acts:** ne'er · **What happens:** moan, foam, fetter, thunder · **To what, where:** mighty river, fettered falls

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Legend of the Falls.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ne'er), 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:pg8122:16:9
# text = Sadly moans the mighty river, foaming down the fettered falls, Where of old he thundered ever o'er abrupt and lofty walls.
1	Sadly	sadly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	moans	moan	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	mighty	mighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	foaming	foam	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
8	down	down	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	fettered	fetter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	amod	_	_
11	falls	fall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	Where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	15	advmod	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	thundered	thunder	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
18	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	20	advmod	_	_
19	o'er	o'er	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	abrupt	abrupt	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	xcomp	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	lofty	lofty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **moan** | present |  | the mighty river |  |  |  | sadly *property* | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent river=Theme |
| 2 | **foam** | gerund |  |  |  | the fettered falls |  |  | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme down fall=Location |
| 3 | **fetter** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **thunder** | past | ne'er |  |  |  |  | abrupt *property* | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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