---
title: “I have always wondered what use you were in the world. — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: “I have always wondered what use you were in the world. Who acts: I, you. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XIII. the Blue Heron and the Wolf, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, XIII. the Blue Heron and the Wolf, sentence 17

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“I have always wondered what use you were in the world.

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**Who acts:** I, you · **What happens:** wonder, use, be · **To what, where:** world · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XIII. the Blue Heron and the Wolf. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, you), 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:pg73136:38:17
# text = “I have always wondered what use you were in the world.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
5	wondered	wonder	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	nsubj	_	_
7	use	use	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wonder** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | present · perfect | I |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **use** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | what *nsubj* | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | past | you |  |  | the world |  |  | 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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