---
title: They were cut in a rude manner upon the inside of the walls, which w… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: They were cut in a rude manner upon the inside of the walls, which were composed of a stone so extremely soft that it might be easily penetrated with a knife: a stone everywhere to be found near the Mississippi. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, In the Measure of Hia
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 3, sentence 147

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They were cut in a rude manner upon the inside of the walls, which were composed of a stone so extremely soft that it might be easily penetrated with a knife: a stone everywhere to be found near the Mississippi.

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**What happens:** cut, compose, penetrate, find · **To what, where:** hieroglyphics, rude manner, walls, pebble, Mississippi

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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:pg8122:20:147
# text = They were cut in a rude manner upon the inside of the walls, which were composed of a stone so extremely soft that it might be easily penetrated with a knife: a stone everywhere to be found near the Mississippi.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	rude	rude	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	inside	inside	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	composed	compose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	acl:relcl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	so	so	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
22	extremely	extremely	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	xcomp	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
27	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	aux:pass	_	_
28	easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	penetrated	penetrate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	advcl	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	35	punct	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
36	everywhere	everywhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	3	advmod	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
38	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	aux:pass	_	_
39	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
40	near	near	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	Mississippi	Mississippi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut** | past · passive |  | hieroglyphics *= hieroglyphic* |  | a rude manner |  | upon the inside of the walls; a stone *obl*; everywhere *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
| 2 | **compose** | past · passive |  | the walls |  |  |  | of a stone; soft *property* | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result |
| 3 | **penetrate** | might · passive |  | pebble |  |  |  | with a knife; easily *property* | vn poke-19 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with knife=Instrument |
| 4 | **find** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  | the Mississippi |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF» |

<!-- .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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