---
title: The old people tell them this story for a lesson, lest they lose a g… — Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin… · tree and pragmatics
description: The old people tell them this story for a lesson, lest they lose a good man, though not so handsome, to get a “stinker.” Who acts: old people, people. 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., 
---

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# Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa, Myths and Folk-lore of the Timagami Ojibwa., part 7, sentence 110

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The old people tell them this story for a lesson, lest they lose a good man, though not so handsome, to get a “stinker.”

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**Who acts:** old people, people · **What happens:** tell, lose, get · **To what, where:** story, mittens, good man, stinker · **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 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old people, people), 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:pg66509:17:110
# text = The old people tell them this story for a lesson, lest they lose a good man, though not so handsome, to get a “stinker.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	tell	tell	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	lesson	lesson	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	lose	lose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
21	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	handsome	handsome	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	stinker	stinker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | the old people | this story | mittens *= mitten* |  |  | for a lesson | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient story=Topic |
| 2 | **lose** | present | people | a good man |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Eventuality |
| 3 | **get** | to-infinitive | the old people *not said here* | a stinker |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer stinker=Stimulus |

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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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