---
title: He commenced shovelling away the sand where one of his ducks was, bu… — Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin… · tree and pragmatics
description: He commenced shovelling away the sand where one of his ducks was, but found the hole empty, and he dug all around in the sand but found they were all taken away. Who acts: Wiske. A sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Wiske·djak Cycle.
---

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# Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa, Wiske·djak Cycle., part 2, sentence 96

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He commenced shovelling away the sand where one of his ducks was, but found the hole empty, and he dug all around in the sand but found they were all taken away.

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**Who acts:** Wiske · **What happens:** commence, shovell away, be, find, dig, take away · **To what, where:** sand, hole, holes · **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, 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 (Wiske), 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:pg66509:6:96
# text = He commenced shovelling away the sand where one of his ducks was, but found the hole empty, and he dug all around in the sand but found they were all taken away.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	commenced	commence	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	shovelling	shovell	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
4	away	away	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	12	advmod	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nsubj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	dug	dig	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
23	all	all	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	around	around	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
28	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
31	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux:pass	_	_
32	all	all	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	ccomp	_	_
34	away	away	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **commence** | past | Wiske |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **shovell away** | gerund | Wiske *not said here* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | past |  | the sand |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **find** | past | Wiske *not said here* | the hole |  |  |  | empty *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hole=Topic |
| 5 | **dig** | past | Wiske |  |  | the sand |  | around *property* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent in sand=Location |
| 6 | **find** | past | Wiske *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 7 | **take away** | past · passive |  | holes *= hole* |  |  |  | all, away *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=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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