---
title: The wise men said: “Let the star choose for herself. — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: The wise men said: “Let the star choose for herself. Who acts: wise men, star. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XXXVI. How the Water Lily Came, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, XXXVI. How the Water Lily Came, sentence 24

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The wise men said: “Let the star choose for herself.

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**Who acts:** wise men, star · **What happens:** say, let, choose · **To what, where:** star · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XXXVI. How the Water Lily Came. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wise men, star), 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:pg73136:61:24
# text = The wise men said: “Let the star choose for herself.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	choose	choose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the wise men |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | the star |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **choose** *in a quote* | infinitive | the star *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for young brave *= brave* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent for herself=Beneficiary |

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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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