---
title: A smooth place on the prairie, or in winter, on a frozen lake or riv… — Legends of the Northwest · tree and pragmatics
description: A smooth place on the prairie, or in winter, on a frozen lake or river, is chosen. A sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Legends of the Northwest, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 2, sentence 112

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A smooth place on the prairie, or in winter, on a frozen lake or river, is chosen.

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**What happens:** freeze, choose · **To what, where:** smooth place

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This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg8122:19:112
# text = A smooth place on the prairie, or in winter, on a frozen lake or river, is chosen.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	smooth	smooth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	prairie	prairie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	frozen	freeze	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	amod	_	_
15	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
19	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	chosen	choose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **freeze** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **choose** | present · passive |  | a smooth place on the prairie or winter and a frozen lake or river |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: 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:** «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, Project Gutenberg book 8122 (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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