---
title: They were shaped like geese, but were naked and were about as high a… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: They were shaped like geese, but were naked and were about as high as a man’s chest and were of brownish red or russet color. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Thunderbirds. (no. 1.), with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, Thunderbirds. (no. 1.), sentence 5

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They were shaped like geese, but were naked and were about as high as a man’s chest and were of brownish red or russet color.

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**What happens:** shape, be · **To what, where:** birds

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This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Thunderbirds. (no. 1.). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg76755:4:5
# text = They were shaped like geese, but were naked and were about as high as a man’s chest and were of brownish red or russet color.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	shaped	shape	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	geese	goose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	naked	naked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
12	about	about	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	as	as	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	_
15	as	as	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	’s	's	PART	POS	_	17	case	_	_
19	chest	chest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
23	brownish	brownish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
24	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
25	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	russet	russet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	conj	_	_
27	color	color	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shape** | past · passive |  | birds *= bird* |  |  |  | like geese | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
| 2 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | naked *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | as a man's chest; about, high *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | of brownish red color | tree rules |

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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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