---
title: They said, “That’s a good lake to drive the beaver, as it’s all rock… — Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin… · tree and pragmatics
description: They said, “That’s a good lake to drive the beaver, as it’s all rocky and they can’t escape. Who acts: companions, That, thunder. 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, with its depe
---

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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 128

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They said, “That’s a good lake to drive the beaver, as it’s all rocky and they can’t escape.

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**Who acts:** companions, That, thunder · **What happens:** say, be, drive, not escape · **To what, where:** good lake, beaver · **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 (companions, That, thunder), 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:pg66509:17:128
# text = They said, “That’s a good lake to drive the beaver, as it’s all rocky and they can’t escape.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
4	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	drive	drive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	acl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	beaver	beaver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
18	all	all	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	rocky	rocky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
24	escape	escape	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | companions *= companion* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | That | a good lake |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **drive** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | companions *= companion* *not said here* | the beaver |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent beaver=Theme |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | thunder |  |  |  |  | all, rocky *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **escape** *in a quote* | can | companions *= companion* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=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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