---
title: He had trailed him by the little marks on the trees; by bent twigs a… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: He had trailed him by the little marks on the trees; by bent twigs and branches; by his footprints in the mud or sand. Who acts: rain. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Meaning of Indian Totems and Names, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, Meaning of Indian Totems and Names, sentence 7

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He had trailed him by the little marks on the trees; by bent twigs and branches; by his footprints in the mud or sand.

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**Who acts:** rain · **What happens:** trail · **To what, where:** hunter

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Meaning of Indian Totems and Names. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (rain), 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:pg73136:14:7
# text = He had trailed him by the little marks on the trees; by bent twigs and branches; by his footprints in the mud or sand.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	trailed	trail	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	marks	mark	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	bent	bent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	twigs	twig	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
19	by	by	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	footprints	footprint	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
25	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **trail** | past · perfect | rain | hunter |  |  |  | by the little marks on the trees; by bent twigs and branches; by rain's footprints in the mud or sand | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent he=Theme by mark=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:** «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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