---
title: It is a curious fact that the "sacred stone" of the Mohammedans, in… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: It is a curious fact that the "sacred stone" of the Mohammedans, in the Kaaba at Mecca, is a meteoric stone, and obtains its sacred character from the fact that it fell from heaven. Who acts: meteor. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 3, sentence 107

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It is a curious fact that the "sacred stone" of the Mohammedans, in the Kaaba at Mecca, is a meteoric stone, and obtains its sacred character from the fact that it fell from heaven.

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**Who acts:** meteor · **What happens:** be, obtain, fall · **To what, where:** curious fact, meteoric stone, sacred character, fact, heaven

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (meteor), 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:pg8122:20:107
# text = It is a curious fact that the "sacred stone" of the Mohammedans, in the Kaaba at Mecca, is a meteoric stone, and obtains its sacred character from the fact that it fell from heaven.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	curious	curious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	sacred	sacred	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Mohammedans	Mohammedan	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	Kaaba	Kaaba	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	_
19	at	at	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	Mecca	Mecca	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	meteoric	meteoric	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	obtains	obtain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
29	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
30	sacred	sacred	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	character	character	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
32	from	from	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
35	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	acl	_	_
38	from	from	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	heaven	heaven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | meteor | a curious fact and a meteoric stone |  |  |  | the sacred stone of the Mohammedans and the Kaaba at Mecca *acl* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | present | meteor *not said here* | a meteoric stone |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **obtain** | present |  | meteor's sacred character |  | the fact |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent character=Theme from fact=Source |
| 4 | **fall** | past | meteor | the fact *not said here* |  | heaven |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V NP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: agent=Patient fact=Extent from heaven=Initial\_State |

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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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