---
title: A good many years ago four Indians wanted to know something about “h… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: A good many years ago four Indians wanted to know something about “how to be a man that would know how to fight and never get hurt.” Who acts: four Indians, man. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Nanabush and the Four Men. (no. 4.), with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, Nanabush and the Four Men. (no. 4.), sentence 2

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A good many years ago four Indians wanted to know something about “how to be a man that would know how to fight and never get hurt.”

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**Who acts:** four Indians, man · **What happens:** want, know, be, fight, not hurt · **To what, where:** something, man · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Nanabush and the Four Men. (no. 4.). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (four Indians, man), 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:pg76755:17:2
# text = A good many years ago four Indians wanted to know something about “how to be a man that would know how to fight and never get hurt.”
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
5	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
6	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	Indians	Indian	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	10	obj	_	_
12	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	21	advmod	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	cop	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
19	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
20	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	acl	_	_
22	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	24	advmod	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	fight	fight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
26	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
27	get	get	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	aux:pass	_	_
28	hurt	hurt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | four Indians |  |  |  | year | ago *property* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **know** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | four Indians *not said here* | something |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer something=Stimulus |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | a man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **know** *in a quote* | would | a man |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **fight** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | a man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **not** **hurt** *in a quote* | infinitive · passive | a man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle» |

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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:** «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Project Gutenberg book 76755 (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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