---
title: He then told his boys “if they saw the sky red that would show them… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He then told his boys “if they saw the sky red that would show them that he (their father) was killed by his wife’s sweetheart.” Who acts: man, children, sky red, sweetheart. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Ne-we-no-nah K’she Mŭh., with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, Ne-we-no-nah K’she Mŭh., sentence 15

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He then told his boys “if they saw the sky red that would show them that he (their father) was killed by his wife’s sweetheart.”

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**Who acts:** man, children, sky red, sweetheart · **What happens:** tell, see, show, kill · **To what, where:** boys, sky red, children, man · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Ne-we-no-nah K’she Mŭh.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, children, sky red, sweetheart), 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:pg76755:7:15
# text = He then told his boys “if they saw the sky red that would show them that he (their father) was killed by his wife’s sweetheart.”
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	iobj	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	red	red	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
14	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	acl:relcl	_	_
16	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
19	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	21	punct	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	ccomp	_	_
25	by	by	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	’s	's	PART	POS	_	27	case	_	_
29	sweetheart	sweetheart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | man |  | man's boys |  | then |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Agent boy=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **see** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past | children *= child* | the sky red |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer red=Stimulus |
| 3 | **show** *in a quote* | would | the sky red | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **kill** *in a quote* | past · passive | man's wife's sweetheart | man |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |

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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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