---
title: The moccasins were always before him. — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: The moccasins were always before him. Who acts: moccasins. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XL. the Magic Moccasins, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, XL. the Magic Moccasins, sentence 20

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The moccasins were always before him.

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**Who acts:** moccasins · **What happens:** be

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XL. the Magic Moccasins. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (moccasins), 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:pg73136:65:20
# text = The moccasins were always before him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	moccasins	moccasin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	6	advmod	_	_
5	before	before	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the moccasins |  |  |  | before Wahkandee | always *property* | 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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