---
title: When the smoke cleared away there were no ducks to be seen dead or a… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: When the smoke cleared away there were no ducks to be seen dead or alive. Who acts: smoke, ducks. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Nanabush and the Ducks. (modern.) (no. 1.), with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, Nanabush and the Ducks. (modern.) (no. 1.), sentence 10

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When the smoke cleared away there were no ducks to be seen dead or alive.

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**Who acts:** smoke, ducks · **What happens:** clear away, be, see

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This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Nanabush and the Ducks. (modern.) (no. 1.). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (smoke, ducks), 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:pg76755:2:10
# text = When the smoke cleared away there were no ducks to be seen dead or alive.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	smoke	smoke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	cleared	clear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	7	expl	_	_
7	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	9	det	_	_
9	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	advcl	_	_
13	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	xcomp	_	_
14	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **clear away** | past | the smoke |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn clear-10.3-1 «NP.Source V»: agent=Source |
| 2 | **be** | past | no ducks |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **see** | to-infinitive · passive | no ducks *not said here* |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V» |

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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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