---
title: The young man used to dream that he could split trees by pointing th… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The young man used to dream that he could split trees by pointing this “something” at them, but never tried it. Who acts: man, young man. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, The Creation of Man., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, The Creation of Man., sentence 25

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The young man used to dream that he could split trees by pointing this “something” at them, but never tried it.

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**Who acts:** man, young man · **What happens:** use, dream, split, point, not try · **To what, where:** young man, trees, something, tree

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This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, The Creation of Man.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, young man), 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:pg76755:30:25
# text = The young man used to dream that he could split trees by pointing this “something” at them, but never tried it.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
4	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	dream	dream	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	split	split	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
11	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
12	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
13	pointing	point	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
14	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	16	nsubj	_	_
15	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	_
18	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
23	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | participle |  | the young man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **dream** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn cognize-85 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **split** | could | man | trees |  |  |  |  | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Patient |
| 4 | **point** | gerund | man *not said here* | something  this |  |  |  | at Indians *= indian* | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Patient |
| 5 | **not** **try** | past | the young man | tree |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |

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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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