---
title: The white men in council did not think best to make the promise, and… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: The white men in council did not think best to make the promise, and the chief refused to send the witnesses. Who acts: white men, chief. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Sioux and Chippewas of Minnesota, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, Sioux and Chippewas of Minnesota, sentence 38

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The white men in council did not think best to make the promise, and the chief refused to send the witnesses.

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**Who acts:** white men, chief · **What happens:** not think, make, refuse, not send · **To what, where:** promise, witnesses · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Sioux and Chippewas of Minnesota. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (white men, chief), 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:pg73136:21:38
# text = The white men in council did not think best to make the promise, and the chief refused to send the witnesses.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	council	council	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	8	ccomp	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	csubj	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	promise	promise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	refused	refuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	witnesses	witness	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **think** *speech: other* | past · do-support | the white men in council |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **make** | to-infinitive |  | the promise |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset promise=Product |
| 3 | **refuse** | past | the chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **send** | to-infinitive | the chief *not said here* | the witnesses |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent witness=Theme |

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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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