---
title: May have been an axe or a knife, etc.” This is very indefinite, but… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: May have been an axe or a knife, etc.” This is very indefinite, but is just what York explained, that it was difficult to understand. Who acts: axe, York. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Nanabush and the Ducks. (no. 2.), with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, Nanabush and the Ducks. (no. 2.), sentence 13

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May have been an axe or a knife, etc.” This is very indefinite, but is just what York explained, that it was difficult to understand.

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**Who acts:** axe, York · **What happens:** be, explain, understand · **To what, where:** axe

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This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Nanabush and the Ducks. (no. 2.). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (axe, York), 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:pg76755:3:13
# text = May have been an axe or a knife, etc.” This is very indefinite, but is just what York explained, that it was difficult to understand.
1	May	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
2	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
3	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	cop	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
6	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	etc.	etc.	NOUN	FW	Abbr=Yes|Number=Plur	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
12	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	nsubj	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	very	very	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	indefinite	indefinite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
19	just	just	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	15	parataxis	_	_
21	York	York	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	explained	explain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	expl	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
27	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	conj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | may · perfect |  | a axe or a knife and etc. |  |  |  | a knife and etc. *conj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | a axe or a knife and etc. |  |  |  |  | This *nsubj*; indefinite *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **explain** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | York |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | past | a axe or a knife and etc. *not said here* |  |  |  |  | difficult *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **understand** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | a axe or a knife and etc. *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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