---
title: The old woman was left on a river bank, and it happened that one of… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The old woman was left on a river bank, and it happened that one of the boys was out hunting that way and when he was coming back home he saw his grandmother sitting by the river side. Who acts: it, one, John, grandmother. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Killing the Old Pe
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, Killing the Old People., sentence 7

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The old woman was left on a river bank, and it happened that one of the boys was out hunting that way and when he was coming back home he saw his grandmother sitting by the river side.

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**Who acts:** it, one, John, grandmother · **What happens:** leave, happen, hunt, come back, see, sit · **To what, where:** old woman, river bank, way, grandmother

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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 (it, one, John, grandmother), 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:pg76755:20:7
# text = The old woman was left on a river bank, and it happened that one of the boys was out hunting that way and when he was coming back home he saw his grandmother sitting by the river side.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
15	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nsubj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	out	out	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	_
21	hunting	hunt	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	advcl	_	_
22	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	det	_	_
23	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl:unmarked	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	28	advmod	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	conj	_	_
29	back	back	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
30	home	home	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	ccomp	_	_
33	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	grandmother	grandmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	34	acl	_	_
36	by	by	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	_
39	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **leave** | past · passive |  | the old woman |  | a river bank |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme on bank=Location |
| 2 | **happen** | past | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **hunt** | past · progressive | one of the boys | that way |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **come back** | past · progressive | John |  |  |  |  | home *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **see** | past | John | John's grandmother |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer grandmother=Stimulus |
| 6 | **sit** | gerund | John's grandmother *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by the river side | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by side=Location |

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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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