---
title: The ball game in some form, it seems, has been the national game on… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: The ball game in some form, it seems, has been the national game on American soil since before American history began. Who acts: it, ball game, American history. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Indian Games, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, Indian Games, sentence 17

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The ball game in some form, it seems, has been the national game on American soil since before American history began.

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**Who acts:** it, ball game, American history · **What happens:** seem, be, begin · **To what, where:** ball game, national game, American soil

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Indian Games. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (it, ball game, American history), 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:pg73136:20:17
# text = The ball game in some form, it seems, has been the national game on American soil since before American history began.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	game	game	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	seems	seem	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
11	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
12	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	cop	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	national	national	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	game	game	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
16	on	on	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	American	American	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
19	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	American	American	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | present | it | the ball game in some form *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme game=Attribute |
| 2 | **is a** | present · perfect | the ball game in some form | the national game |  | American soil |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **begin** | past | American history |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

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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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