--- title: Before the dance started he told the ducks that they had to keep the… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics description: Before the dance started he told the ducks that they had to keep their eyes closed when they danced and had to dance around the middle of the camp. Who acts: Nanabush, ducks, eyes. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Nanabush and the Ducks. (no. 2.), with its dependency tree a --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76755/3/4/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ojibwa myths and tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76755/) / [Nanabush and the Ducks. (no. 2.)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76755/3/) / 4 # Ojibwa myths and tales, Nanabush and the Ducks. (no. 2.), sentence 4 Before the dance started he told the ducks that they had to keep their eyes closed when they danced and had to dance around the middle of the camp. **Who acts:** Nanabush, ducks, eyes · **What happens:** start, tell, have, keep, close, dance · **To what, where:** ducks, eyes, middle · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (Nanabush, ducks, eyes), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg76755:3:4 # text = Before the dance started he told the ducks that they had to keep their eyes closed when they danced and had to dance around the middle of the camp. 1 Before before ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 dance dance NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ _ 4 started start VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 6 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 ccomp _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 ducks duck NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 obj _ _ 9 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 11 obj _ _ 10 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 nsubj _ _ 11 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 acl:relcl _ _ 12 to to PART TO _ 13 mark _ _ 13 keep keep VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 11 xcomp _ _ 14 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 15 nmod:poss _ _ 15 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obj _ _ 16 closed close VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 13 xcomp _ _ 17 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 19 advmod _ _ 18 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 danced dance VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 advcl _ _ 20 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 21 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 conj _ _ 22 to to PART TO _ 23 mark _ _ 23 dance dance VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 21 xcomp _ _ 24 around around ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 middle middle NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ _ 27 of of ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 camp camp NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 30 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **start** | past | | | | | before the dance | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Nanabush | | the ducks | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent duck=Recipient | | 3 | **have** | past | ducks *= duck* | the ducks | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **keep** | to-infinitive | the ducks *not said here* | ducks's eyes | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **close** | participle | ducks's eyes *not said here* | | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 6 | **dance** | past | ducks *= duck* | | | | | | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **have** | past | ducks *= duck* *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **dance** | to-infinitive | ducks *= duck* *not said here* | | | the middle of the camp | | | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme around middle=Location | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76755/3/3/) - next →: [sentence 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76755/3/5/) - ↑ back to [Nanabush and the Ducks. (no. 2.)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76755/3/)