---
title: If the sky was mottled and it was springtime, that was the best sign… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: If the sky was mottled and it was springtime, that was the best sign possible. Who acts: sky, that. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XXXIV. the Echo God and the Northern Lights, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, XXXIV. the Echo God and the Northern Lights, sentence 20

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If the sky was mottled and it was springtime, that was the best sign possible.

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**Who acts:** sky, that · **What happens:** mottle, be · **To what, where:** sky, springtime, best sign

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XXXIV. the Echo God and the Northern Lights. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sky, that), 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:pg73136:59:20
# text = If the sky was mottled and it was springtime, that was the best sign possible.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	mottled	mottle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	springtime	springtime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	15	amod	_	_
15	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	appos	_	_
16	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mottle** | past · passive |  | the sky |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP»: subject=Destination |
| 2 | **is a** | past | sky | springtime |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | past | that | the best sign |  |  |  |  | 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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