---
title: The boy told only a little, for it seemed like a foolish dream, and… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: The boy told only a little, for it seemed like a foolish dream, and he was afraid no one would believe him. Who acts: boy, it, one. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XLII. the Indian Who Married the Moon, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, XLII. the Indian Who Married the Moon, sentence 48

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The boy told only a little, for it seemed like a foolish dream, and he was afraid no one would believe him.

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**Who acts:** boy, it, one · **What happens:** tell, seem, be, believe · **To what, where:** boy · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XLII. the Indian Who Married the Moon. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, it, one), 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:pg73136:67:48
# text = The boy told only a little, for it seemed like a foolish dream, and he was afraid no one would believe him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
11	like	like	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	dream	dream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
20	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	21	det	_	_
21	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
22	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	ccomp	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **seem** | past | it |  |  |  |  | like a foolish dream | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | boy |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **believe** | would | no one | boy |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |

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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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