---
title: Macaulay says of Britain, "Her inhabitants, when first they became k… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: Macaulay says of Britain, "Her inhabitants, when first they became known to the Tyrian mariners, were little superior to the natives of the Sandwich Islands." Who acts: Macaulay, inhabitants. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Sea-gull, the Ojibwa Legend of the Pi
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, The Sea-gull, the Ojibwa Legend of the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior., sentence 21

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Macaulay says of Britain, "Her inhabitants, when first they became known to the Tyrian mariners, were little superior to the natives of the Sandwich Islands."

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**Who acts:** Macaulay, inhabitants · **What happens:** say, become, know, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Sea-gull, the Ojibwa Legend of the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Macaulay, inhabitants), 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:pg8122:2:22
# text = Macaulay says of Britain, "Her inhabitants, when first they became known to the Tyrian mariners, were little superior to the natives of the Sandwich Islands."
1	Macaulay	Macaulay	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Britain	Britain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	inhabitants	inhabitant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
11	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	13	advmod	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl	_	_
14	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	xcomp	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	Tyrian	tyrian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	mariners	mariner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
20	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	superior	superior	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	ccomp	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	natives	native	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	Sandwich	Sandwich	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
29	Islands	Island	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Macaulay |  |  |  |  | of Britain | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **become** *in a quote* | past | inhabitants *= inhabitant* |  |  |  |  | first *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **know** *in a quote* | participle | inhabitants *= inhabitant* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the Tyrian mariners | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | past | Macaulay's inhabitants |  |  |  |  | to the natives of the Sandwich Islands; superior *property* | 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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