---
title: Not a morsel of food have the Virgins tasted For three long days ere… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: Not a morsel of food have the Virgins tasted For three long days ere the holy feast; They sat in their teepee alone and fasted, Their faces turned to the Sacred East. Who acts: morsel, Virgins, three long days, faces. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of th
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 1, sentence 3

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Not a morsel of food have the Virgins tasted For three long days ere the holy feast; They sat in their teepee alone and fasted, Their faces turned to the Sacred East.

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**Who acts:** morsel, Virgins, three long days, faces · **What happens:** have, taste, ere, sit, fast, turn · **To what, where:** holy feast, teepee

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (morsel, Virgins, three long days, faces), 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:pg8122:8:3
# text = Not a morsel of food have the Virgins tasted For three long days ere the holy feast; They sat in their teepee alone and fasted, Their faces turned to the Sacred East.
1	Not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	morsel	morsel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Virgins	virgin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	tasted	taste	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
10	For	for	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
11	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nummod	_	_
12	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
14	ere	ere	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	holy	holy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	feast	feast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
19	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	teepee	teepee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
24	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	fasted	fast	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	Their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	faces	face	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nsubj	_	_
30	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	Sacred	Sacred	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	_
34	East	East	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | a morsel of food |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **taste** | past | the Virgins |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **ere** | past | three long days | the holy feast |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **sit** | past | Virgins *= virgin* |  |  | Virgins's teepee |  | alone *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in teepee=Location |
| 5 | **fast** | participle | Virgins *= virgin* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **turn** | past | Virgins's faces |  |  |  |  | to the Sacred East *result* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to east=Result |

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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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