---
title: He followed her for a long time but could not get near enough to cat… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He followed her for a long time but could not get near enough to catch her, so he went on till night came. Who acts: husband, night. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Nanabush and the Young Man and Wife. (no. 5.), with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, Nanabush and the Young Man and Wife. (no. 5.), sentence 7

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He followed her for a long time but could not get near enough to catch her, so he went on till night came.

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**Who acts:** husband, night · **What happens:** follow, not get, catch, go on, come · **To what, where:** wife

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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 (husband, night), 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:pg76755:18:7
# text = He followed her for a long time but could not get near enough to catch her, so he went on till night came.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	followed	follow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
12	near	near	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
16	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
21	on	on	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
22	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | past | husband | wife |  |  | time |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **get** | could | husband *not said here* |  |  |  |  | near *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **catch** | to-infinitive | husband *not said here* | wife |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |
| 4 | **go on** | past | husband |  |  |  |  |  | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **come** | past | night |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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