---
title: I could never see the propriety of calling the young of foxes _kits_… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: I could never see the propriety of calling the young of foxes _kits_ or _kittens_, which mean _little cats_. Who acts: I, propriety, kits. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 4, sentence 23

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I could never see the propriety of calling the young of foxes \_kits\_ or \_kittens\_, which mean \_little cats\_.

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**Who acts:** I, propriety, kits · **What happens:** not see, call, mean · **To what, where:** propriety, young, little cats · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, propriety, kits), 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:pg8122:21:23
# text = I could never see the propriety of calling the young of foxes _kits_ or _kittens_, which mean _little cats_.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	propriety	propriety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	calling	call	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	young	young	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	foxes	fox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
13	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	kits	kit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	14	punct	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	kittens	kitten	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
22	mean	mean	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
23	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **see** | could | I | the propriety |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer propriety=Stimulus |
| 2 | **call** | gerund | the propriety *not said here* | the young of foxes |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent young=Recipient |
| 3 | **mean** | present | kits or kittens | little cats |  |  |  | which *nsubj* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |

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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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