---
title: He told them, “The time is now on” and all the ducks started to come… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He told them, “The time is now on” and all the ducks started to come in dancing with their eyes closed. Who acts: Nanabush, ducks, eyes. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Nanabush and the Ducks. (no. 8.), with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, Nanabush and the Ducks. (no. 8.), sentence 30

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He told them, “The time is now on” and all the ducks started to come in dancing with their eyes closed.

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**Who acts:** Nanabush, ducks, eyes · **What happens:** tell, start, come, dance, close · **To what, where:** ducks · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Nanabush and the Ducks. (no. 8.). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Nanabush, ducks, eyes), 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:pg76755:25:30
# text = He told them, “The time is now on” and all the ducks started to come in dancing with their eyes closed.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	10	advmod	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	15	det:predet	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
16	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
20	dancing	dance	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
21	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
24	closed	close	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	ccomp	_	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 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Nanabush |  | ducks *= duck* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 2 | **start** | past | all ducks |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **come** | to-infinitive | all ducks *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **dance** | gerund | all ducks *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **close** | participle | ducks's eyes |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

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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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