---
title: While the three Indians sat watching the river, they saw a white can… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: While the three Indians sat watching the river, they saw a white canoe coming straight toward the little hill where they sat. It seemed to come from the place of the setting sun. Who acts: three Indians, Indians, white canoe. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Cath
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, How He United the Five Nations, sentence 8

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While the three Indians sat watching the river, they saw a white canoe coming straight toward the little hill where they sat. It seemed to come from the place of the setting sun.

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**Who acts:** three Indians, Indians, white canoe · **What happens:** sit, watch, see, come, sat., seem · **To what, where:** river, little hill, place · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, How He United the Five Nations. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (three Indians, Indians, white canoe), 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:pg73136:77:8
# text = While the three Indians sat watching the river, they saw a white canoe coming straight toward the little hill where they sat. It seemed to come from the place of the setting sun.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	Indians	Indian	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
6	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	xcomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	canoe	canoe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
15	coming	come	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	acl	_	_
16	straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
17	toward	toward	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
21	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	23	advmod	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	sat.	sat.	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	acl:relcl	_	_
24	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	ccomp	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	from	from	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	setting	setting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	_
34	sun.	sun.	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past | the three Indians |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **watch** | gerund | the three Indians *not said here* | the river |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent river=Theme |
| 3 | **see** | past | Indians *= indian* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **come** | gerund | a white canoe *not said here* |  |  | the little hill |  | straight *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme toward hill=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **sat.** | past | Indians *= indian* | river |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **seem** | past | a white canoe |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 7 | **come** | to-infinitive | a white canoe *not said here* |  |  | the place of the setting sun. |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from place=Initial\_Location |

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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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