---
title: The father of Memainggwah, when crossing a marsh one night, was foll… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: The father of Memainggwah, when crossing a marsh one night, was followed by a dancing light as large as half the moon when it is overhead in the sky. Who acts: dancing light, marsh. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XXVII. the Star That Never Moves
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, XXVII. the Star That Never Moves, sentence 22

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The father of Memainggwah, when crossing a marsh one night, was followed by a dancing light as large as half the moon when it is overhead in the sky.

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**Who acts:** dancing light, marsh · **What happens:** cross, follow, be · **To what, where:** marsh, father, sky

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XXVII. the Star That Never Moves. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dancing light, marsh), 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:pg73136:52:22
# text = The father of Memainggwah, when crossing a marsh one night, was followed by a dancing light as large as half the moon when it is overhead in the sky.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Memainggwah	Memainggwah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
7	crossing	cross	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	marsh	marsh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
11	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	followed	follow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	dancing	dancing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
19	as	as	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
21	as	as	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	half	half	DET	PDT	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac|PronType=Ind	24	det:predet	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	moon	moon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
25	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	28	mark	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
28	overhead	overhead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	advcl	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cross** | gerund | a dancing light *not said here* | a marsh |  |  | night |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent marsh=Patient |
| 2 | **follow** | past · passive | a dancing light | the father of Memainggwah |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | present | marsh |  |  | the sky |  | overhead *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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