---
title: He tried to pull up the tree he was in by the roots, but he could no… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: He tried to pull up the tree he was in by the roots, but he could not do it with one hand. Who acts: Menabozho. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, III. Menabozho Caught, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, III. Menabozho Caught, sentence 27

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He tried to pull up the tree he was in by the roots, but he could not do it with one hand.

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**Who acts:** Menabozho · **What happens:** try, pull up, be, not do · **To what, where:** tree

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, III. Menabozho Caught. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Menabozho), 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:pg73136:72:27
# text = He tried to pull up the tree he was in by the roots, but he could not do it with one hand.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	in	in	ADV	RB	_	7	acl:relcl	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	23	nummod	_	_
23	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | Menabozho |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **pull up** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Menabozho *not said here* | the tree |  |  |  | by the roots | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | Menabozho | the tree *not said here* |  |  |  | in *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **do** | could | Menabozho | tree |  |  |  | with one hand | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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