---
title: A long time ago the only place where light could be seen was in the… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics
description: A long time ago the only place where light could be seen was in the teepee of one old chief. Who acts: long time. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XIII. How Light, Fire, and Water First Came to the World, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, XIII. How Light, Fire, and Water First Came to the World, sentence 2

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A long time ago the only place where light could be seen was in the teepee of one old chief.

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**Who acts:** long time · **What happens:** see, be · **To what, where:** light, teepee

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This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, XIII. How Light, Fire, and Water First Came to the World. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (long time), 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:pg73136:82:2
# text = A long time ago the only place where light could be seen was in the teepee of one old chief.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
4	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
8	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	12	advmod	_	_
9	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl:relcl	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	teepee	teepee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	nummod	_	_
19	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | could · passive |  | light |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | past | a long time |  |  | the teepee |  | of one old chief; the only place *nsubj* | tree rules |

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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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