---
title: The big boy asked the old man to take his brother along but the old… — Ojibwa myths and tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The big boy asked the old man to take his brother along but the old man said “No!” Who acts: big boy, old man. 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 31

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The big boy asked the old man to take his brother along but the old man said “No!”

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**Who acts:** big boy, old man · **What happens:** ask, take, say · **To what, where:** old man, brother · **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 (big boy, old man), 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:pg76755:7:31
# text = The big boy asked the old man to take his brother along but the old man said “No!”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	along	along	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
18	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the big boy |  | the old man |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent man=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **take** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  | boy's brother |  |  | along *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument brother=Destination |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the old man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent no=Topic |

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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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