The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, The Grizzly Bear’s Medicine, sentence 253
The Otter gave him the power, if his enemies ever attacked him, to break their arrows with his teeth and shoot back the shaft without a spike, and if he hit an enemy with the shaft, it would kill him.
Who acts: Otter, enemies, power, arrow · What happens: give, attack, break, shoot back, hit, kill · To what, where: power, arrows, shaft, enemy
This is a sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, The Grizzly Bear’s Medicine. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Otter, enemies, power, arrow), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 Otter | det |
| 2 | Otter | Otter | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 gave | nsubj |
| 3 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 gave | iobj |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 power | det |
| 6 | power | power | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 gave | obj |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 attacked | punct |
| 8 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 12 attacked | mark |
| 9 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 10 enemies | nmod:poss |
| 10 | enemies | enemy | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 attacked | nsubj |
| 11 | ever | ever | ADV | PronType=Ind | 12 attacked | advmod |
| 12 | attacked | attack | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 gave | conj |
| 13 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 attacked | obj |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 break | punct |
| 15 | to | to | PART | _ | 16 break | mark |
| 16 | break | break | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 attacked | ccomp |
| 17 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 18 arrows | nmod:poss |
| 18 | arrows | arrow | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 break | obj |
| 19 | with | with | ADP | _ | 21 teeth | case |
| 20 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 21 teeth | nmod:poss |
| 21 | teeth | tooth | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 break | obl |
| 22 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 23 shoot | cc |
| 23 | shoot | shoot | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 16 break | conj |
| 24 | back | back | ADV | _ | 23 shoot | advmod |
| 25 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 shaft | det |
| 26 | shaft | shaft | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 shoot | obj |
| 27 | without | without | ADP | _ | 29 spike | case |
| 28 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 29 spike | det |
| 29 | spike | spike | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 shoot | obl |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 hit | punct |
| 31 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 34 hit | cc |
| 32 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 34 hit | mark |
| 33 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 hit | nsubj |
| 34 | hit | hit | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 gave | parataxis |
| 35 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 36 enemy | det |
| 36 | enemy | enemy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 hit | obj |
| 37 | with | with | ADP | _ | 39 shaft | case |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 shaft | det |
| 39 | shaft | shaft | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 hit | obl |
| 40 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 43 kill | punct |
| 41 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 43 kill | nsubj |
| 42 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 43 kill | aux |
| 43 | kill | kill | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 34 hit | conj |
| 44 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 43 kill | obj |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 gave | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | give | past | the Otter | the power | power | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient power=Theme | |||
| 2 | attack a condition, not said to happen | past | power's enemies | power | ever | tree rules | |||
| 3 | break | to-infinitive | power's enemies not said here | otter's arrows | with power's teeth | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent arrow=Patient with tooth=Instrument | |||
| 4 | shoot back | present | power's enemies not said here | the shaft | without a spike | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shaft=Theme | |||
| 5 | hit a condition, not said to happen | past | power | a enemy | with the shaft | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent enemy=Patient with shaft=Instrument | |||
| 6 | kill | would | arrow | power | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
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.
Text: «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, Project Gutenberg book 66596 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/10/253/