---
title: The husband of the old witch went out alone to a little lake some mi… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The husband of the old witch went out alone to a little lake some miles away to see if there were any fish there. Who acts: husband, fish. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, The People Who Became Serpents., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, The People Who Became Serpents., sentence 10

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The husband of the old witch went out alone to a little lake some miles away to see if there were any fish there.

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**Who acts:** husband, fish · **What happens:** go out, see, be

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This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, The People Who Became Serpents.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (husband, fish), 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:pg76755:27:10
# text = The husband of the old witch went out alone to a little lake some miles away to see if there were any fish there.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
7	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	out	out	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
9	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
14	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	15	det	_	_
15	miles	mile	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl:unmarked	_	_
16	away	away	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
19	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	21	expl	_	_
21	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
22	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	23	det	_	_
23	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
24	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go out** | past | the husband of the old witch |  |  |  |  | to a little lake; alone, out *property* | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **see** | to-infinitive | the husband of the old witch *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **be** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | any fish |  |  | there; there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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