---
title: It must be true, for it is told by the old men to the boys to this d… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: It must be true, for it is told by the old men to the boys to this day. Who acts: thing, old men. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XXXVIII. a Rip Van Winkle, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, XXXVIII. a Rip Van Winkle, sentence 3

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It must be true, for it is told by the old men to the boys to this day.

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**Who acts:** thing, old men · **What happens:** be, tell · **To what, where:** thing · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XXXVIII. a Rip Van Winkle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (thing, old men), 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:pg73136:63:3
# text = It must be true, for it is told by the old men to the boys to this day.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	19	det	_	_
19	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | must | thing |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · passive | the old men to the boys | thing |  |  | day |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent subject=Recipient |

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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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