---
title: So he took a whetstone and, scraping it on a rock, he asked it, “Hav… — Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin… · tree and pragmatics
description: So he took a whetstone and, scraping it on a rock, he asked it, “Have I any mother?” Who acts: grandfather. A sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Myths and Folk-lore of the Timagami Ojibwa., part 1, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa, Myths and Folk-lore of the Timagami Ojibwa., part 1, sentence 43

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So he took a whetstone and, scraping it on a rock, he asked it, “Have I any mother?”

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**Who acts:** grandfather · **What happens:** take, scrape, ask, have · **To what, where:** whetstone, rock, mother · **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, Myths and Folk-lore of the Timagami Ojibwa., 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 (grandfather), 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:pg66509:11:43
# text = So he took a whetstone and, scraping it on a rock, he asked it, “Have I any mother?”
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	whetstone	whetstone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	scraping	scrape	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	Have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	ccomp	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
21	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	22	det	_	_
22	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | grandfather | a whetstone |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whetstone=Theme |
| 2 | **scrape** | gerund | grandfather *not said here* | whetstone |  | a rock |  |  | vn funnel-9.3-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent it=Theme on rock=Trajectory |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | grandfather |  | whetstone |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP that S»: agent=Agent it=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **have** *in a quote* | present | grandfather | any mother |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mother=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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