---
title: Once a month she stirs a great kettle of boiled corn that stands bef… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: Once a month she stirs a great kettle of boiled corn that stands before her; while her two hands have hold of the stick, the cat which is always near her unravels her headstrap. Who acts: question, boiled corn, two hands, cat. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Cat
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, XXXI. the Woman in the Moon, sentence 12

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Once a month she stirs a great kettle of boiled corn that stands before her; while her two hands have hold of the stick, the cat which is always near her unravels her headstrap.

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**Who acts:** question, boiled corn, two hands, cat · **What happens:** stir, boil, stand, have, be, hold · **To what, where:** great kettle, hold, stick

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XXXI. the Woman in the Moon. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (question, boiled corn, two hands, cat), 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:pg73136:56:12
# text = Once a month she stirs a great kettle of boiled corn that stands before her; while her two hands have hold of the stick, the cat which is always near her unravels her headstrap.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	month	month	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	stirs	stir	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	kettle	kettle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	boiled	boil	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	amod	_	_
11	corn	corn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
13	stands	stand	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
14	before	before	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
19	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	nummod	_	_
20	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
21	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
22	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	stick	stick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	appos	_	_
29	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	34	nsubj	_	_
30	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
31	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	34	advmod	_	_
32	near	near	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obl	_	_
34	unravels	unravel	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	acl:relcl	_	_
35	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	headstrap	headstrap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stir** | present | question | a great kettle of boiled corn |  |  | month | once *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus kettle=Experiencer |
| 2 | **boil** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **stand** | present | boiled corn |  |  |  | before question |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before she=Location |
| 4 | **have** | present | question's two hands | hold of the stick |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Patient |
| 5 | **is** | present | the cat |  |  |  |  | near question; question's headstrap *obj*; always, unravel *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **hold** |  |  | the stick |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: of=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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