---
title: The first of these following tales was told to me some eight or ten… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The first of these following tales was told to me some eight or ten years ago by Ben Simcoe, an elderly Indian from the Rama Reserve, Ontario County, near Lake Couchiching, and is probably a modern version of an older tale, as it introduces the negro and white man. Who acts: Ben, first. A sentence o
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, John York’s Own Story., sentence 21

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The first of these following tales was told to me some eight or ten years ago by Ben Simcoe, an elderly Indian from the Rama Reserve, Ontario County, near Lake Couchiching, and is probably a modern version of an older tale, as it introduces the negro and white man.

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**Who acts:** Ben, first · **What happens:** follow, tell, be, introduce · **To what, where:** first, me, modern version, negro · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, John York’s Own Story.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ben, first), 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:pg76755:29:21
# text = The first of these following tales was told to me some eight or ten years ago by Ben Simcoe, an elderly Indian from the Rama Reserve, Ontario County, near Lake Couchiching, and is probably a modern version of an older tale, as it introduces the negro and white man.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	first	first	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
5	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	amod	_	_
6	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	_
11	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	12	advmod	_	_
12	eight	eight	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
13	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	conj	_	_
15	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl:unmarked	_	_
16	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
17	by	by	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	Ben	Ben	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
19	Simcoe	Simcoe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	elderly	elderly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	Indian	Indian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	conj	_	_
24	from	from	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	Rama	Rama	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	compound	_	_
27	Reserve	Reserve	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	Ontario	Ontario	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	_
30	County	County	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	near	near	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	Lake	Lake	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	_
34	Couchiching	couchiching	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
37	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	41	cop	_	_
38	probably	probably	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	modern	modern	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	version	version	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
43	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	45	amod	_	_
45	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
47	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
48	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
49	introduces	introduce	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	negro	negro	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obj	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
53	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · passive | Ben | the first of this following tales | me |  |  | ago *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent subject=Topic to i=Recipient |
| 3 | **is a** | present |  | a modern version |  |  |  | of a older tale; probably *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **introduce** | present | first | the negro and white man |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent negro=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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