--- title: Then they heard the hoot of the mottled owl; [56] They heard the gra… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics description: Then they heard the hoot of the mottled owl; [56] They heard the gray wolf's dismal howl; Then shrill and sudden the war whoop rose From an hundred throats of their swarthy foes, In ambush crouched in the tangled wood. Who acts: warriors, war whoop, mottled owl, gray wolf. A sentence of «Legends of --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/8/91/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Legends of the Northwest](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/) / [The Feast of the Virgins., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/8/) / 91 # Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 1, sentence 91 Then they heard the hoot of the mottled owl; \[56\] They heard the gray wolf's dismal howl; Then shrill and sudden the war whoop rose From an hundred throats of their swarthy foes, In ambush crouched in the tangled wood. **Who acts:** warriors, war whoop, mottled owl, gray wolf · **What happens:** hear, mottle, rise, crouch, tangle, hoot · **To what, where:** hoot, 56, hundred throats, ambush, tangled wood 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 (warriors, war whoop, mottled owl, gray wolf), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg8122:8:91 # text = Then they heard the hoot of the mottled owl; [56] They heard the gray wolf's dismal howl; Then shrill and sudden the war whoop rose From an hundred throats of their swarthy foes, In ambush crouched in the tangled wood. 1 Then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 3 advmod _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 hoot hoot NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ _ 6 of of ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 8 mottled mottle VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 9 amod _ _ 9 owl owl NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 10 ; ; PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 11 [ [ PUNCT -LRB- _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 12 56 56 NUM CD NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card 15 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 ] ] PUNCT -RRB- _ 12 punct _ _ 14 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 15 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 17 gray gray ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 18 amod _ _ 18 wolf wolf NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 19 's 's PART POS _ 18 case _ _ 20 dismal dismal ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 21 howl howl NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 ; ; PUNCT : _ 24 punct _ _ 23 Then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 24 advmod _ _ 24 shrill shrill ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 advcl _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 26 sudden sudden ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 conj _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 28 war war NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 compound _ _ 29 whoop whoop NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nsubj _ _ 30 rose rise VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 31 From from ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 32 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 33 hundred hundred NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 34 nummod _ _ 34 throats throat NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 obl _ _ 35 of of ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 36 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 38 nmod:poss _ _ 37 swarthy swarthy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 38 foes foe NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 40 In in ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 41 ambush ambush NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ _ 42 crouched crouch VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 41 acl _ _ 43 in in ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 45 tangled tangle VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 46 amod _ _ 46 wood wood NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **hear** | past | warriors *= warrior* | the hoot of the mottled owl | | | then | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer hoot=Stimulus | | 2 | **mottle** | participle | | | | | | | vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **hear** | past | warriors *= warrior* | 56 | | | | the gray wolf's dismal howl *obj* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer howl=Stimulus | | 4 | **rise** | past | the war whoop | | | a hundred throats of warriors's swarthy foes | | in ambush | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in ambush=Location | | 5 | **crouch** | participle | | ambush *not said here* | | the tangled wood | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in wood=Location | | 6 | **tangle** | participle | | | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **hoot** | | the mottled owl | | | | | | nom hoot «communication intransitive»: of=agent | | 8 | **howl** | | the gray wolf | | | | | | nom howl «communication intransitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 90](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/8/90/) - next →: [sentence 92](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/8/92/) - ↑ back to [The Feast of the Virgins., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/8/)