---
title: In a few months, when his wife’s brothers were out on the lake in th… — Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin… · tree and pragmatics
description: In a few months, when his wife’s brothers were out on the lake in their canoe, they spied a little duck swimming a long way off, and paddled up to him. Who acts: brothers, little duck. A sentence of «Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa» by Frank G. Speck, Wiske·djak 
---

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# Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa, Wiske·djak Cycle., part 3, sentence 55

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In a few months, when his wife’s brothers were out on the lake in their canoe, they spied a little duck swimming a long way off, and paddled up to him.

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**Who acts:** brothers, little duck · **What happens:** be, spy, swim, paddle up · **To what, where:** lake, little duck, long way, hole

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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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brothers, little duck), 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:pg66509:7:55
# text = In a few months, when his wife’s brothers were out on the lake in their canoe, they spied a little duck swimming a long way off, and paddled up to him.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
6	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	’s	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
12	out	out	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	canoe	canoe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	spied	spy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	duck	duck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
25	swimming	swim	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	24	acl	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
29	off	off	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	paddled	paddle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	conj	_	_
33	up	up	ADP	RP	_	32	compound:prt	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | hole's wife's brothers |  |  | the lake |  | in brothers's canoe | tree rules |
| 2 | **spy** | past | brothers *= brother* | a little duck |  |  | month |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer duck=Stimulus |
| 3 | **swim** | gerund | a little duck *not said here* | a long way |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **paddle up** | participle | brothers *= brother* *not said here* |  | hole |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent to he=Trajectory |

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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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