---
title: About twenty feet from the entrance begins a lake, the water of whic… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: About twenty feet from the entrance begins a lake, the water of which is transparent, and extends to an unsearchable distance; for the darkness of the cave prevents all attempts to acquire a knowledge of it. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, In the Measure of Hiawath
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 3, sentence 143

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About twenty feet from the entrance begins a lake, the water of which is transparent, and extends to an unsearchable distance; for the darkness of the cave prevents all attempts to acquire a knowledge of it.

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**What happens:** begin, be, extend, prevent, acquire · **To what, where:** twenty feet, entrance, unsearchable distance, attempts, knowledge

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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: 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:pg8122:20:143
# text = About twenty feet from the entrance begins a lake, the water of which is transparent, and extends to an unsearchable distance; for the darkness of the cave prevents all attempts to acquire a knowledge of it.
1	About	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	entrance	entrance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
7	begins	begin	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	appos	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	obl	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	transparent	transparent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	extends	extend	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	unsearchable	unsearchable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
25	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	cave	cave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
31	prevents	prevent	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
32	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	33	det	_	_
33	attempts	attempt	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obj	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	acquire	acquire	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	advcl	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | present |  | twenty feet |  | the entrance |  | a lake *obj* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lake=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | of the water; transparent *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **extend** | present |  |  | a unsearchable distance |  |  |  | vn contribute-13.2-2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to distance=Recipient |
| 4 | **prevent** | present |  | all attempts |  |  |  | for the darkness of the cave | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer attempt=Theme |
| 5 | **acquire** | to-infinitive |  | a knowledge of entrance |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset knowledge=Theme |

<!-- .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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