---
title: It was not small because it was young, but they could see it was an… — Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin… · tree and pragmatics
description: It was not small because it was young, but they could see it was an old one, but much undersized. Who acts: beaver, spirits. A sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Timiskaming Folk-lore., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of 
---

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# Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa, Timiskaming Folk-lore., sentence 40

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It was not small because it was young, but they could see it was an old one, but much undersized.

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**Who acts:** beaver, spirits · **What happens:** not be, be, see · **To what, where:** old one · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Timiskaming Folk-lore.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (beaver, spirits), 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:pg66509:10:40
# text = It was not small because it was young, but they could see it was an old one, but much undersized.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
16	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	much	much	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	undersized	undersized	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past | beaver |  |  |  |  | small *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | beaver |  |  |  |  | young *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | could | spirits *= spirit* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is a** | past | beaver | a old one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** |  | beaver *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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:** «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Project Gutenberg book 66509 (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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- ← previous: [sentence 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66509/10/39/)
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- ↑ back to [Timiskaming Folk-lore.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66509/10/)