---
title: Before their father went away he told them that their mother would f… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Before their father went away he told them that their mother would follow them though she was dead, so the father gave them some things to use in case they wanted help; an awl, a stone, and a thorn. Who acts: father, mother, children. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Ne-we-
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, Ne-we-no-nah K’she Mŭh., sentence 17

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Before their father went away he told them that their mother would follow them though she was dead, so the father gave them some things to use in case they wanted help; an awl, a stone, and a thorn.

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**Who acts:** father, mother, children · **What happens:** go away, tell, follow, be, give, use · **To what, where:** children, things, case, help · **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 (father, mother, children), 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:pg76755:7:17
# text = Before their father went away he told them that their mother would follow them though she was dead, so the father gave them some things to use in case they wanted help; an awl, a stone, and a thorn.
1	Before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	iobj	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
18	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	so	so	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	iobj	_	_
25	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	26	det	_	_
26	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	acl	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	case	case	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
31	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	acl:relcl	_	_
33	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	awl	awl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	thorn	thorn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go away** | past | children's father |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | father |  | children *= child* |  |  | a awl and a stone *parataxis*; a thorn *parataxis* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **follow** *not said to happen* | would | children's mother | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | mother |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **give** | past | the father | some things | children *= child* |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient thing=Theme |
| 6 | **use** | to-infinitive | the father *not said here* | some things *not said here* |  | case |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **want** | past | children *= child* | help |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot help=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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