---
title: If the white fisherman tells a story of some great fish that he has… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: If the white fisherman tells a story of some great fish that he has caught, or that nearly came into his net, then the Indians, among themselves, grunt and scoff at his story. Who acts: white fisherman, that. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Menab
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/69/45/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Wigwam stories told by North American…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/) / [Menabozho, or the Great White Hare](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/69/) / 45

# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, Menabozho, or the Great White Hare, sentence 45

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If the white fisherman tells a story of some great fish that he has caught, or that nearly came into his net, then the Indians, among themselves, grunt and scoff at his story.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** white fisherman, that · **What happens:** tell, catch, come · **To what, where:** story, Indians, fisherman, net · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Menabozho, or the Great White Hare. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (white fisherman, that), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg73136:69:45
# text = If the white fisherman tells a story of some great fish that he has caught, or that nearly came into his net, then the Indians, among themselves, grunt and scoff at his story.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	fisherman	fisherman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	tells	tell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	11	det	_	_
10	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	fish	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	nsubj	_	_
19	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
21	into	into	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	net	net	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	27	advmod	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	Indians	Indian	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	5	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	among	among	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
32	grunt	grunt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	scoff	scoff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	_
35	at	at	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | the white fisherman | a story of some great fish | the Indians | fisherman's story |  | among Indians *= indian* | tree rules |
| 2 | **catch** | present · perfect · passive |  | fisherman |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **come** | past | that |  |  | fisherman's net |  | nearly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into net=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/69/44/)
- next →: [sentence 46](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/69/46/)
- ↑ back to [Menabozho, or the Great White Hare](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/69/)