---
title: The Indians used to do this; when people got too old they were kille… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The Indians used to do this; when people got too old they were killed to be got out of the way. Who acts: Indians, people. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Killing the Old People., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, Killing the Old People., sentence 15

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The Indians used to do this; when people got too old they were killed to be got out of the way.

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**Who acts:** Indians, people · **What happens:** use, do, get, kill, get out · **To what, where:** this, people, way

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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 (Indians, people), 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:pg76755:20:15
# text = The Indians used to do this; when people got too old they were killed to be got out of the way.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Indians	Indian	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
9	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
11	too	too	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	xcomp	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	xcomp	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	xcomp	_	_
19	out	out	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past | the Indians |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive | the Indians *not said here* | this |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent this=Eventuality |
| 3 | **get** | past | people |  |  |  |  | old *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **kill** | past · passive |  | people |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **get out** | to-infinitive · passive |  | the way |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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