---
title: In olden times people used to believe in feeding the dead by burning… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: In olden times people used to believe in feeding the dead by burning some bread and meat (food) over the grave, and this was what brought the parents back to the island at this particular time. Who acts: people, this. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Nanabush and the Young 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76755/18/57/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / [Ojibwa myths and tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76755/) / [Nanabush and the Young Man and Wife. (…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76755/18/) / 57

# Ojibwa myths and tales, Nanabush and the Young Man and Wife. (no. 5.), sentence 57

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In olden times people used to believe in feeding the dead by burning some bread and meat (food) over the grave, and this was what brought the parents back to the island at this particular time.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** people, this · **What happens:** use, believe, feed, burn, be · **To what, where:** dead, bread, grave

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Nanabush and the Young Man and Wife. (no. 5.). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people, this), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg76755:18:57
# text = In olden times people used to believe in feeding the dead by burning some bread and meat (food) over the grave, and this was what brought the parents back to the island at this particular time.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	olden	olden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
4	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	feeding	feed	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	obj	_	_
12	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
13	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	advcl	_	_
14	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	15	det	_	_
15	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
18	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	19	punct	_	_
21	over	over	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	grave	grave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
26	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	29	nsubj	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
28	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	29	nsubj	_	_
29	brought	bring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	_
32	back	back	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
36	at	at	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	39	det	_	_
38	particular	particular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past | people |  |  |  | time |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **believe** | to-infinitive | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **feed** | gerund | people *not said here* | the dead |  |  |  |  | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dead=Recipient |
| 4 | **burn** | gerund | people *not said here* | some bread and meat |  | the grave |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent bread=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | past | this |  |  |  | time | to the island; what *nsubj*; the parents *obj*; bring *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 56](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76755/18/56/)
- next →: [sentence 58](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76755/18/58/)
- ↑ back to [Nanabush and the Young Man and Wife. (no. 5.)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76755/18/)