---
title: The three Indians saw a white-haired chief alone in the canoe, and h… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: The three Indians saw a white-haired chief alone in the canoe, and he had no paddle. Who acts: three, sun. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, How He United the Five Nations, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, How He United the Five Nations, sentence 9

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The three Indians saw a white-haired chief alone in the canoe, and he had no paddle.

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**Who acts:** three, sun · **What happens:** see, have · **To what, where:** white haired chief, canoe, paddle

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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, sun), 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:pg73136:77:9
# text = The three Indians saw a white-haired chief alone in the canoe, and he had no paddle.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nsubj	_	_
3	Indians	Indian	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
6	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	haired	haired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
10	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	canoe	canoe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
18	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	19	det	_	_
19	paddle	paddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | the three | a white haired chief |  | the canoe |  | Indians *nsubj* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer chief=Stimulus |
| 2 | **have** | past | sun | no paddle |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent paddle=Patient |

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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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