---
title: Slabs of birch bark are spread upon a clear space of ground to serve… — Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin… · tree and pragmatics
description: Slabs of birch bark are spread upon a clear space of ground to serve as a sort of table. 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 every clause.
---

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# Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa, Timiskaming Folk-lore., sentence 64

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Slabs of birch bark are spread upon a clear space of ground to serve as a sort of table.

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**What happens:** spread, serve, sort · **To what, where:** Slabs, clear space, table

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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: 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:pg66509:10:64
# text = Slabs of birch bark are spread upon a clear space of ground to serve as a sort of table.
1	Slabs	slab	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	birch	birch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	bark	bark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	spread	spread	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	clear	clear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	space	space	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	serve	serve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
15	as	as	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	sort	sort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spread** | present · passive |  | Slabs of birch bark |  | a clear space of ground |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme upon space=Destination |
| 2 | **serve** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | as a sort of table | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as sort=Attribute |
| 3 | **sort** |  |  | table |  |  |  |  | nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

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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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