---
title: But the brawny bulls in the swarthy van Turned their polished horns… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: But the brawny bulls in the swarthy van Turned their polished horns to the charging foes, And reckless rider and fleet foot-man Were held at bay in the drifted snows, While the bellowing herd o'er the hill-tops ran, Like the frightened beasts of a caravan On the Sahara's sands when the simoon blows.
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, Heyóka Wacípee \[16\]--the Giant's Dance., sentence 79

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But the brawny bulls in the swarthy van Turned their polished horns to the charging foes, And reckless rider and fleet foot-man Were held at bay in the drifted snows, While the bellowing herd o'er the hill-tops ran, Like the frightened beasts of a caravan On the Sahara's sands when the simoon blows.

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**Who acts:** brawny bulls, bellowing herd, simoon · **What happens:** turn, polish, hold, drift, bellow, run · **To what, where:** polished horns, charging foes, reckless rider, bay

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, Heyóka Wacípee \[16\]--the Giant's Dance.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brawny bulls, bellowing herd, simoon), 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:pg8122:7:79
# text = But the brawny bulls in the swarthy van Turned their polished horns to the charging foes, And reckless rider and fleet foot-man Were held at bay in the drifted snows, While the bellowing herd o'er the hill-tops ran, Like the frightened beasts of a caravan On the Sahara's sands when the simoon blows.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	brawny	brawny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	bulls	bull	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	swarthy	swarthy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	van	van	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
9	Turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
11	polished	polish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	amod	_	_
12	horns	horn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	charging	charging	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	foes	foe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
18	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
19	reckless	reckless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	rider	rider	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	fleet	fleet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
23	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
26	Were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux:pass	_	_
27	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	conj	_	_
28	at	at	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	bay	bay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	drifted	drift	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	amod	_	_
33	snows	snow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
35	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	bellowing	bellow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	38	amod	_	_
38	herd	herd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nsubj	_	_
39	o'er	o'er	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
41	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	41	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	tops	top	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nmod	_	_
44	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
46	Like	like	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	frightened	frightened	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	beasts	beast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	obl	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	caravan	caravan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	_
53	On	on	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	Sahara	Sahara	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	57	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	's	's	PART	POS	_	55	case	_	_
57	sands	sand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	nmod	_	_
58	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	61	mark	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
60	simoon	simoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	nsubj	_	_
61	blows	blow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	57	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | past | the brawny bulls in the swarthy van | bulls's polished horns |  | the charging foes |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent horn=Theme to foe=Trajectory |
| 2 | **polish** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **hold** | past · passive |  | reckless rider and fleet foot man |  | bay in the drifted snows |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme at bay=Location |
| 4 | **drift** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **bellow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **run** | past | the bellowing herd o'er the hill tops |  |  |  |  | like the frightened beasts of a caravan on the Sahara's sands | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **blow** | present | the simoon |  |  |  |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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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