--- title: It is told by the people who wrote back to England in those early da… — Wigwam stories told by North American Indians · tree and pragmatics description: It is told by the people who wrote back to England in those early days that the Indians could not be made to understand why they should pay more wampum for anything when it was scarce than when it was plentiful. Who acts: people, Indians, value. A sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American I --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/9/27/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Wigwam stories told by North American…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/) / [Wampum Money](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/9/) / 27 # Wigwam stories told by North American Indians, Wampum Money, sentence 27 It is told by the people who wrote back to England in those early days that the Indians could not be made to understand why they should pay more wampum for anything when it was scarce than when it was plentiful. **Who acts:** people, Indians, value · **What happens:** tell, write back, not make, understand, pay, be · **To what, where:** value, England, Indians, more wampum · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Wigwam stories told by North American Indians» by Mary Catherine Judd, Wampum Money. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people, Indians, value), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg73136:9:27 # text = It is told by the people who wrote back to England in those early days that the Indians could not be made to understand why they should pay more wampum for anything when it was scarce than when it was plentiful. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj:pass _ _ 2 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 aux:pass _ _ 3 told tell VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 4 by by ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 obl _ _ 7 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 8 nsubj _ _ 8 wrote write VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 acl:relcl _ _ 9 back back ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 10 to to ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 11 England England PROPN NNP Number=Sing 8 obl _ _ 12 in in ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 13 those that DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 15 det _ _ 14 early early ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 15 days day NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 obl _ _ 16 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 22 obj _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 Indians Indian PROPN NNPS Number=Plur 22 nsubj:pass _ _ 19 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 20 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 22 advmod _ _ 21 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 22 aux:pass _ _ 22 made make VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 15 acl:relcl _ _ 23 to to PART TO _ 24 mark _ _ 24 understand understand VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 22 advcl _ _ 25 why why ADV WRB PronType=Int 28 advmod _ _ 26 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 27 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 28 aux _ _ 28 pay pay VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 ccomp _ _ 29 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 30 amod _ _ 30 wampum wampum NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obj _ _ 31 for for ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 32 anything anything PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 28 obl _ _ 33 when when SCONJ WRB _ 36 mark _ _ 34 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 35 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 cop _ _ 36 scarce scarce ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 advcl _ _ 37 than than SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 38 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 41 advmod _ _ 39 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 40 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 41 cop _ _ 41 plentiful plentiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 36 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · passive | the people | value | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent subject=Recipient | | 2 | **write back** | past | the people | | England | | day | | vn lecture-37.11-1 «NP V PP.recipient PP.topic»: agent=Agent to england=Recipient | | 3 | **not** **make** | could · passive | | the Indians | | | that early days | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary that=Product | | 4 | **understand** | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 5 | **pay** | should | Indians *= indian* | more wampum | | | | for anything | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent wampum=Asset for anything=Theme | | 6 | **is** | past | value | | | | | scarce *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **is** | past | value | | | | | plentiful *property* | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/9/26/) - next →: [sentence 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/9/28/) - ↑ back to [Wampum Money](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg73136/9/)