---
title: He shot one of the singing birds and a drop of blood fell on the star. — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: He shot one of the singing birds and a drop of blood fell on the star. Who acts: son, drop. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XXXV. Legend of Mackinaw Island, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, XXXV. Legend of Mackinaw Island, sentence 78

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He shot one of the singing birds and a drop of blood fell on the star.

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**Who acts:** son, drop · **What happens:** shoot, sing, fall · **To what, where:** one, star

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XXXV. Legend of Mackinaw Island. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (son, drop), 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:pg73136:60:78
# text = He shot one of the singing birds and a drop of blood fell on the star.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	shot	shoot	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	amod	_	_
7	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	drop	drop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
13	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shoot** | past | son | one of the singing birds |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Theme |
| 2 | **sing** *speech: express* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **fall** | past | a drop of blood |  |  | the star |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on star=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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