---
title: An old chief saw the clay dishes and told the other squaws to make t… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: An old chief saw the clay dishes and told the other squaws to make them, but the clay dishes would not hold water and broke very easily. Who acts: old chief, clay dishes. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, II. How Clay Dishes Were First Made, with i
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, II. How Clay Dishes Were First Made, sentence 16

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An old chief saw the clay dishes and told the other squaws to make them, but the clay dishes would not hold water and broke very easily.

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**Who acts:** old chief, clay dishes · **What happens:** see, tell, make, not hold, break · **To what, where:** clay dishes, other squaws, dishes, water · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, II. How Clay Dishes Were First Made. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old chief, clay dishes), 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:pg73136:27:16
# text = An old chief saw the clay dishes and told the other squaws to make them, but the clay dishes would not hold water and broke very easily.
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	dishes	dish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	squaws	squaw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
15	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	_
20	dishes	dish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
21	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
23	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
24	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
27	very	very	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | a old chief | the clay dishes |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer dish=Stimulus |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | a old chief *not said here* | the other squaws |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent squaw=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **make** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | dishes *= dish* |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset they=Product |
| 4 | **not** **hold** | would | the clay dishes | water |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Theme |
| 5 | **break** | past | a old chief *not said here* |  |  |  |  | easily *property* | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

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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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