---
title: While he was wondering which way was best, the sky was filled with w… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: While he was wondering which way was best, the sky was filled with wild ducks. Who acts: Hiawatha, way. 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 of every clause.
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, IX. Wampum or Indian Money, sentence 6

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While he was wondering which way was best, the sky was filled with wild ducks.

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**Who acts:** Hiawatha, way · **What happens:** wonder, be, fill · **To what, where:** sky

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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, way), 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:pg73136:78:6
# text = While he was wondering which way was best, the sky was filled with wild ducks.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	wondering	wonder	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
5	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	6	det	_	_
6	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	filled	fill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
14	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | past · progressive | Hiawatha |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | past | which way |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **fill** | past · passive |  | the sky |  |  |  | with wild ducks | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with duck=Instrument |

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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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