---
title: It was too deep to wade across, and he stood still thinking whether… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: It was too deep to wade across, and he stood still thinking whether he should call his magic white canoe to help him or go back. Who acts: It, Hiawatha. 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 
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, IX. Wampum or Indian Money, sentence 4

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It was too deep to wade across, and he stood still thinking whether he should call his magic white canoe to help him or go back.

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**Who acts:** It, Hiawatha · **What happens:** be, wade, stand, think, call, help · **To what, where:** magic white canoe, Hiawatha · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (It, Hiawatha), 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:pg73136:78:4
# text = It was too deep to wade across, and he stood still thinking whether he should call his magic white canoe to help him or go back.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	wade	wade	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	csubj	_	_
7	across	across	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
12	still	still	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
14	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	call	call	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	ccomp	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
19	magic	magic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
20	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	canoe	canoe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	advcl	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
27	back	back	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | It |  |  |  |  | deep *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **wade** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | across *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **stand** | past | Hiawatha |  |  |  | still |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* | gerund | Hiawatha *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **call** | should | Hiawatha | Hiawatha's magic white canoe |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent canoe=Recipient |
| 6 | **help** | to-infinitive | Hiawatha *not said here* |  | Hiawatha |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary |
| 7 | **go back** | infinitive | Hiawatha *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=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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