---
title: The hole was white with snow, except that in the middle was a wide b… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: The hole was white with snow, except that in the middle was a wide black lake; across the lake he saw the three great rocks he had been told to find. Who acts: hole, tamanous. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XXXVIII. a Rip Van Winkle, with its de
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, XXXVIII. a Rip Van Winkle, sentence 51

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The hole was white with snow, except that in the middle was a wide black lake; across the lake he saw the three great rocks he had been told to find.

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**Who acts:** hole, tamanous · **What happens:** be, see, tell, find · **To what, where:** wide black lake, three great rocks, tamanous · **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 (hole, tamanous), 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:pg73136:63:51
# text = The hole was white with snow, except that in the middle was a wide black lake; across the lake he saw the three great rocks he had been told to find.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
8	except	except	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	nmod	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
15	wide	wide	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
16	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	across	across	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
25	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	27	nummod	_	_
26	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	acl:relcl	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | with snow; white *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the hole except that in the middle | a wide black lake and the lake |  |  |  | the lake *conj* | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | past | tamanous | the three great rocks |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer rock=Stimulus |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · perfect · passive |  | tamanous |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **find** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | tamanous *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
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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