---
title: They danced faster than ever before; their feet left the ground and… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: They danced faster than ever before; their feet left the ground and they were dancing in the air. Who acts: boys, feet. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XXXII. the Seven Stars of Pleiades, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, XXXII. the Seven Stars of Pleiades, sentence 15

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They danced faster than ever before; their feet left the ground and they were dancing in the air.

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**Who acts:** boys, feet · **What happens:** dance, leave · **To what, where:** ground, air

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XXXII. the Seven Stars of Pleiades. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boys, feet), 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:pg73136:57:15
# text = They danced faster than ever before; their feet left the ground and they were dancing in the air.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	danced	dance	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	2	advmod	_	_
4	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	6	advmod	_	_
6	before	before	ADV	RB	_	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	dancing	dance	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	conj	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dance** | past | boys *= boy* |  |  |  | ever | fast *property* | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **leave** | past | boys's feet | the ground |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ground=Theme |
| 3 | **dance** | past · progressive | boys *= boy* |  |  | the air |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in air=Location |

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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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