---
title: They will tell you that trees are greener on the south side than on… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: They will tell you that trees are greener on the south side than on the north, and that there are plants whose leaves point due north. Who acts: boys, trees, plants. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Indian Traits, with its dependency tree and the 
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, Indian Traits, sentence 9

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They will tell you that trees are greener on the south side than on the north, and that there are plants whose leaves point due north.

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**Who acts:** boys, trees, plants · **What happens:** tell, be, point · **To what, where:** you, south side · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Indian Traits. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boys, trees, plants), 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:pg73136:10:9
# text = They will tell you that trees are greener on the south side than on the north, and that there are plants whose leaves point due north.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	iobj	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	greener	green	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	ccomp	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	south	South	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	than	than	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	north	north	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	21	expl	_	_
21	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
22	plants	plant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj	_	_
23	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	_
25	point	point	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
26	due	due	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	xcomp	_	_
27	north	north	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | future | boys *= boy* |  | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient |
| 2 | **is** | present | trees |  |  | the south side |  | than the north; green *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** | present | plants  plants  plants's leaves's leaves *not said here* |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **point** | present | plants  plants  plants's leaves's leaves |  |  |  |  | due *property* | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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:** «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Project Gutenberg book 73136 (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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