---
title: Just as they reached the shore, when the hunter could leap to safety… — Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin… · tree and pragmatics
description: Just as they reached the shore, when the hunter could leap to safety, a stroke of lightning hit the Snake and broke him into numberless pieces, which began swimming about and finally came to land. Who acts: Snakes, hunter, stroke, numberless pieces. A sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskam
---

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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 121

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Just as they reached the shore, when the hunter could leap to safety, a stroke of lightning hit the Snake and broke him into numberless pieces, which began swimming about and finally came to land.

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**Who acts:** Snakes, hunter, stroke, numberless pieces · **What happens:** reach, leap, hit, break, begin, swim · **To what, where:** shore, safety, Snake, stroke, numberless pieces, lightning

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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 (Snakes, hunter, stroke, numberless pieces), 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:pg66509:17:121
# text = Just as they reached the shore, when the hunter could leap to safety, a stroke of lightning hit the Snake and broke him into numberless pieces, which began swimming about and finally came to land.
1	Just	just	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	shore	shore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	hunter	hunter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	leap	leap	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	safety	safety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	stroke	stroke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	lightning	lightning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
20	hit	hit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	Snake	Snake	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	into	into	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	numberless	numberless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
31	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	acl:relcl	_	_
32	swimming	swim	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	31	xcomp	_	_
33	about	about	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	finally	finally	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	land	land	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reach** | past | Snakes *= snake* | the shore |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent shore=Theme |
| 2 | **leap** | could | the hunter |  |  | safety |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to safety=Destination |
| 3 | **hit** | past | a stroke of lightning | the Snake |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme snake=Co-Theme |
| 4 | **break** | past | a stroke of lightning *not said here* | stroke |  |  |  | into numberless pieces *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent he=Patient into piece=Result |
| 5 | **begin** | past | numberless pieces |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **swim** | gerund | numberless pieces *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **come** | past | numberless pieces *not said here* |  |  |  |  | finally *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **land** | to-infinitive | numberless pieces *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn pocket-9.10-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **stroke** |  |  | lightning |  |  |  |  | nom stroke «act 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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