---
title: The fox wanted a fish, but was afraid of the man. — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: The fox wanted a fish, but was afraid of the man. Who acts: fox. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XII. How the Bear Lost His Tail, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, XII. How the Bear Lost His Tail, sentence 3

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The fox wanted a fish, but was afraid of the man.

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**Who acts:** fox · **What happens:** want, be · **To what, where:** fish

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XII. How the Bear Lost His Tail. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fox), 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:pg73136:37:3
# text = The fox wanted a fish, but was afraid of the man.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | the fox | a fish |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot fish=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | the fox *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of the man; afraid *property* | tree rules |

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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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