---
title: Its head was shot off; the ducks fell around his canoe like hail in… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: Its head was shot off; the ducks fell around his canoe like hail in a hailstorm; the water was black with the ducks he shot. Who acts: ducks, water. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, I. Iagoo, the Great Story-teller, with its dependency tree and th
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, I. Iagoo, the Great Story-teller, sentence 121

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Its head was shot off; the ducks fell around his canoe like hail in a hailstorm; the water was black with the ducks he shot.

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**Who acts:** ducks, water · **What happens:** shoot off, fall, be, shoot · **To what, where:** head, canoe, ducks

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, I. Iagoo, the Great Story-teller. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ducks, water), 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:pg73136:26:121
# text = Its head was shot off; the ducks fell around his canoe like hail in a hailstorm; the water was black with the ducks he shot.
1	Its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	shot	shoot	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	off	off	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
10	around	around	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	canoe	canoe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	like	like	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	hail	hail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	hailstorm	hailstorm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
22	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	shot	shoot	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shoot off** | past · passive |  | canoe's head |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **fall** | past | the ducks |  |  | swan's canoe like hail |  | in a hailstorm | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme around canoe=Location |
| 3 | **is** | past | the water |  |  |  |  | with the ducks; black *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **shoot** | past | water | the ducks *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent duck=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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