---
title: He caught a very big sturgeon, but on account of his crooked claws,… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He caught a very big sturgeon, but on account of his crooked claws, could not let go, and the sturgeon swam out to deep water and drowned the wild cat. Who acts: CAT, sturgeon. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Rat and Beaver Story—wah-zesk and Ah-mic., with its dependency t
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, Rat and Beaver Story—wah-zesk and Ah-mic., sentence 15

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He caught a very big sturgeon, but on account of his crooked claws, could not let go, and the sturgeon swam out to deep water and drowned the wild cat.

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**Who acts:** CAT, sturgeon · **What happens:** catch, not let, go, swim out, drown, account · **To what, where:** big sturgeon, account, deep water, wild cat, crooked claws

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This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Rat and Beaver Story—wah-zesk and Ah-mic.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (CAT, sturgeon), 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:pg76755:6:15
# text = He caught a very big sturgeon, but on account of his crooked claws, could not let go, and the sturgeon swam out to deep water and drowned the wild cat.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	sturgeon	sturgeon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
13	crooked	crooked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
16	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
18	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
19	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	sturgeon	sturgeon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	swam	swim	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
25	out	out	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	drowned	drown	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** | past | CAT | a big sturgeon |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sturgeon=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **let** | could | CAT *not said here* |  |  | account of CAT's crooked claws |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **go** | infinitive | CAT *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **swim out** | past | the sturgeon |  |  | deep water |  | out *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to water=Destination |
| 5 | **drown** | past | the sturgeon *not said here* | the wild cat |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cat=Patient |
| 6 | **account** |  |  | CAT's crooked claws |  |  |  |  | nom account «communication transitive»: of=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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