---
title: He gathered some of the shells and, striking them with sharp flints,… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: He gathered some of the shells and, striking them with sharp flints, strung the pieces on strings of sinew. Who acts: Hiawatha, sharp flints. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, IX. Wampum or Indian Money, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, IX. Wampum or Indian Money, sentence 11

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He gathered some of the shells and, striking them with sharp flints, strung the pieces on strings of sinew.

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**Who acts:** Hiawatha, sharp flints · **What happens:** gather, strike, string · **To what, where:** some, shells, pieces, strings

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, IX. Wampum or Indian Money. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Hiawatha, sharp flints), 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:pg73136:78:11
# text = He gathered some of the shells and, striking them with sharp flints, strung the pieces on strings of sinew.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	gathered	gather	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	2	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	shells	shell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	striking	strike	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	flints	flint	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	strung	string	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	acl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	strings	string	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	sinew	sinew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **gather** | past | Hiawatha | some of the shells |  |  |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent some=Theme |
| 2 | **strike** | gerund | Hiawatha *not said here* | shells *= shell* |  |  |  | with sharp flints | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent they=Patient with flint=Instrument |
| 3 | **string** | participle | sharp flints *not said here* | the pieces |  | strings of sinew |  |  | vn pocket-9.10 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent piece=Theme on string=Destination |

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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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