---
title: The people pondered very much how to go about freeing these birds fr… — Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin… · tree and pragmatics
description: The people pondered very much how to go about freeing these birds from the creature who kept them. Who acts: people, creature. 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 6, with its depende
---

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# Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa, Myths and Folk-lore of the Timagami Ojibwa., part 6, sentence 98

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The people pondered very much how to go about freeing these birds from the creature who kept them.

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**Who acts:** people, creature · **What happens:** ponder, go, free, keep · **To what, where:** birds, creature

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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 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people, creature), 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:pg66509:16:98
# text = The people pondered very much how to go about freeing these birds from the creature who kept them.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	pondered	ponder	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	much	much	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
6	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	go	go	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
9	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
10	freeing	free	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
11	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
12	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
13	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
16	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
17	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
18	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ponder** | past | the people |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **go** | to-infinitive | the people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **free** | gerund | the people *not said here* | this birds |  | the creature |  |  | vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Causer bird=Source |
| 4 | **keep** | past | the creature | birds *= bird* |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

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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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