---
title: The boys came to a big river and saw a big snail which they asked to… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The boys came to a big river and saw a big snail which they asked to take them across the river. Who acts: boys, children, big snail. A sentence of «Ojibwa myths and tales» by Geo. E. Laidlaw, Ne-we-no-nah K’she Mŭh., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Ojibwa myths and tales, Ne-we-no-nah K’she Mŭh., sentence 21

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The boys came to a big river and saw a big snail which they asked to take them across the river.

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**Who acts:** boys, children, big snail · **What happens:** come, see, ask, take · **To what, where:** big river, big snail, children, river

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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 (boys, children, big snail), 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:pg76755:7:21
# text = The boys came to a big river and saw a big snail which they asked to take them across the river.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	snail	snail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
13	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	obj	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	across	across	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | the boys |  |  | a big river |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to river=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **see** | past | the boys *not said here* | a big snail |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer snail=Stimulus |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | children *= child* | a big snail |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent which=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **take** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a big snail *not said here* | children *= child* |  | the river |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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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