---
title: Once upon a time two girls who were out in the woods climbed a tall… — Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin… · tree and pragmatics
description: Once upon a time two girls who were out in the woods climbed a tall spruce tree, but when they wanted to descend, they found that it was impossible. Who acts: two girls, Girls. A sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Appendix: Notes on 
---

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# Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa, Appendix: Notes on Timagami Folk-lore., sentence 14

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Once upon a time two girls who were out in the woods climbed a tall spruce tree, but when they wanted to descend, they found that it was impossible.

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**Who acts:** two girls, Girls · **What happens:** climb, want, descend, find, be · **To what, where:** tall spruce tree

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This is a sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Appendix: Notes on Timagami Folk-lore.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (two girls, Girls), 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:pg66509:20:14
# text = Once upon a time two girls who were out in the woods climbed a tall spruce tree, but when they wanted to descend, they found that it was impossible.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	13	advmod	_	_
2	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
5	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	out	out	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	woods	wood	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
13	climbed	climb	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
15	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
16	spruce	spruce	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
20	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	22	advmod	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	descend	descend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	expl	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
31	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **climb** | past | two girls | a tall spruce tree |  |  | time | once *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location tree=Theme |
| 2 | **want** | past | Girls *= girl* |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **descend** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Girls *= girl* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **find** | past | Girls *= girl* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** | past | Girls *= girl* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | impossible *property* | tree rules |

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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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