---
title: There was the big tree, but no tracks were in sight. — Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin… · tree and pragmatics
description: There was the big tree, but no tracks were in sight. Who acts: big tree, tracks. 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 5, 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, Myths and Folk-lore of the Timagami Ojibwa., part 5, sentence 172

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There was the big tree, but no tracks were in sight.

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**Who acts:** big tree, tracks · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** sight

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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 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (big tree, tracks), 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:pg66509:15:172
# text = There was the big tree, but no tracks were in sight.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
8	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	9	det	_	_
9	tracks	track	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | the big tree |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | no tracks |  |  | sight |  |  | 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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