---
title: The town is like a great beehive, for the houses are merely rooms bu… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: The town is like a great beehive, for the houses are merely rooms built one over the other, each family living in a few small rooms which are reached by means of ladders. Who acts: town, houses, family. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, The Indians
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, The Indians Who Live in Brick Houses, sentence 12

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The town is like a great beehive, for the houses are merely rooms built one over the other, each family living in a few small rooms which are reached by means of ladders.

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**Who acts:** town, houses, family · **What happens:** be, build, live, reach, mean · **To what, where:** one, other, few small rooms

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, The Indians Who Live in Brick Houses. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (town, houses, family), 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:pg73136:17:12
# text = The town is like a great beehive, for the houses are merely rooms built one over the other, each family living in a few small rooms which are reached by means of ladders.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	beehive	beehive	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	houses	house	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
12	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	merely	merely	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	rooms	room	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
15	built	build	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
16	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	obj	_	_
17	over	over	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	22	det	_	_
22	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
23	living	live	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	22	acl	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
26	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
27	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	rooms	room	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
29	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
30	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	reached	reach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	acl:relcl	_	_
32	by	by	ADP	IN	_	31	obl	_	_
33	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	ladders	ladder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the town |  |  |  |  | like a great beehive | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | the houses |  |  |  |  | for rooms; merely *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **build** | past |  | one |  | the other |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset one=Product |
| 4 | **live** | gerund | each family *not said here* |  |  | a few small rooms |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in room=Location |
| 5 | **reach** | present · passive |  | a few small rooms |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: subject=Theme |
| 6 | **mean** | present | each family |  |  |  |  | of ladders | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: 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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