---
title: Seeing something strange-looking near the fire—they could not well m… — Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin… · tree and pragmatics
description: Seeing something strange-looking near the fire—they could not well make out what—they paddled near. Who acts: Indians. A sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Wiske·djak Cycle., part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa, Wiske·djak Cycle., part 2, sentence 71

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Seeing something strange-looking near the fire—they could not well make out what—they paddled near.

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**Who acts:** Indians · **What happens:** see, look, not make out, paddle · **To what, where:** something

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This is a sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Wiske·djak Cycle., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Indians), 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:pg66509:6:71
# text = Seeing something strange-looking near the fire—they could not well make out what—they paddled near.
1	Seeing	see	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	csubj	_	_
2	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	1	obj	_	_
3	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	looking	look	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	1	conj	_	_
6	near	near	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
13	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	14	advmod	_	_
14	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
15	out	out	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
16	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	paddled	paddle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
20	near	near	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | gerund |  | something |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer something=Stimulus |
| 2 | **look** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | near the fire | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent near fire=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **make out** | could | Indians *= indian* |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **paddle** | past | Indians *= indian* |  |  |  |  | what *obj*; near *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent what=Location |

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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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