---
title: In order to foretell the sex of the child about to be born, the firs… — Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin… · tree and pragmatics
description: In order to foretell the sex of the child about to be born, the first vertebra of a moose or deer may be used. A sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Timagami Folk-lore., 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, Timagami Folk-lore., sentence 4

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In order to foretell the sex of the child about to be born, the first vertebra of a moose or deer may be used.

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**What happens:** foretell about, bear, use, sex · **To what, where:** sex, first vertebra, child

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This is a sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Timagami Folk-lore.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg66509:19:4
# text = In order to foretell the sex of the child about to be born, the first vertebra of a moose or deer may be used.
1	In	in	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	4	mark	_	_
2	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	fixed	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	foretell	foretell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sex	sex	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	about	about	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
12	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	17	amod	_	_
17	vertebra	vertebra	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	moose	moose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
21	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	deer	deer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	_
23	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
24	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	aux:pass	_	_
25	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **foretell about** | to-infinitive |  | the sex of the child |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sex=Theme |
| 2 | **bear** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S» |
| 3 | **use** | may · passive |  | the first vertebra of a moose or deer |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 4 | **sex** |  |  | the child |  |  |  |  | nom sex «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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