---
title: Why then should we rigidly adhere to rules repugnant to the genius o… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: Why then should we rigidly adhere to rules repugnant to the genius of our language, if they can be modified so as to adapt the sonorous Hexameter to the structure of our mother-tongue? Who acts: we. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Sea-gull, the Ojibwa Legend of
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, The Sea-gull, the Ojibwa Legend of the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior., sentence 71

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Why then should we rigidly adhere to rules repugnant to the genius of our language, if they can be modified so as to adapt the sonorous Hexameter to the structure of our mother-tongue?

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**Who acts:** we · **What happens:** adhere, modify, adapt · **To what, where:** language, sonorous Hexameter, structure

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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 (we), 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:pg8122:2:73
# text = Why then should we rigidly adhere to rules repugnant to the genius of our language, if they can be modified so as to adapt the sonorous Hexameter to the structure of our mother-tongue?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
3	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	rigidly	rigidly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	adhere	adhere	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	rules	rule	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	compound	_	_
9	repugnant	repugnant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	genius	genius	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
19	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	modified	modify	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
22	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
23	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	adapt	adapt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	sonorous	sonorous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	Hexameter	hexameter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	structure	structure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
33	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
34	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **adhere** | should | we |  |  |  | then | to rules repugnant to the genius of our language; rigidly *property* | vn cling-22.5 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to repugnant=Co-Theme |
| 2 | **modify** | can · passive |  | language |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
| 3 | **adapt** | to-infinitive |  | the sonorous Hexameter |  |  |  | to the structure of our mother tongue *goal* | vn adjust-26.9 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent hexameter=Patient to structure=Goal |

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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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