---
title: Everybody sat still, they did not know what to say, as they had thou… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Everybody sat still, they did not know what to say, as they had thought that she would have died that night out on the river bank. Who acts: Everybody, boys, woman. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Killing the Old People., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, Killing the Old People., sentence 11

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Everybody sat still, they did not know what to say, as they had thought that she would have died that night out on the river bank.

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**Who acts:** Everybody, boys, woman · **What happens:** sit, not know, say, think, die out · **To what, where:** boys, river bank · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Killing the Old People.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Everybody, boys, woman), 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:pg76755:20:11
# text = Everybody sat still, they did not know what to say, as they had thought that she would have died that night out on the river bank.
1	Everybody	everybody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	still	still	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
9	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	11	obj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	thought	think	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	aux	_	_
21	died	die	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	16	ccomp	_	_
22	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	det	_	_
23	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl:unmarked	_	_
24	out	out	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
25	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	compound	_	_
28	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past | Everybody |  |  |  | still |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | boys *= boy* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* | past · perfect · passive |  | boys *= boy* |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 5 | **die out** | would · perfect | woman |  |  | the river bank | night | out *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

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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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