The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Nothing Child, sentence 108
Some had foxes and some had other animals, but when Nothing Child went to his trap, he found in it a white fox with a black-tipped tail, and when it was taken to the chief’s lodge he said that this was the fox he meant, and he told his daughters to get ready and go and marry the Nothing Child.
Who acts: Some, Nothing Child, man, this · What happens: have, go, find, tip, take, say · To what, where: foxes, other animals, trap, white fox, place, it · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, Nothing Child. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Some, Nothing Child, man, this), 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 | Some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 2 had | nsubj |
| 2 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | foxes | fox | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 had | obj |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 6 had | cc |
| 5 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 6 had | nsubj |
| 6 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 had | conj |
| 7 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 animals | amod |
| 8 | animals | animal | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 had | obj |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 found | punct |
| 10 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 20 found | cc |
| 11 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 14 went | advmod |
| 12 | Nothing | nothing | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 Child | amod |
| 13 | Child | Child | PROPN | Number=Sing | 14 went | nsubj |
| 14 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 found | advcl |
| 15 | to | to | ADP | _ | 17 trap | case |
| 16 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 17 trap | nmod:poss |
| 17 | trap | trap | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 went | obl |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 went | punct |
| 19 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 found | nsubj |
| 20 | found | find | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 had | parataxis |
| 21 | in | in | ADP | _ | 22 it | case |
| 22 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 found | obl |
| 23 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 25 fox | det |
| 24 | white | white | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 fox | amod |
| 25 | fox | fox | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 found | obj |
| 26 | with | with | ADP | _ | 31 tail | case |
| 27 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 31 tail | det |
| 28 | black | black | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 30 tipped | compound |
| 29 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 28 black | punct |
| 30 | tipped | tip | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 31 tail | amod |
| 31 | tail | tail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 fox | nmod |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 taken | punct |
| 33 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 37 taken | cc |
| 34 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 37 taken | advmod |
| 35 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 taken | nsubj:pass |
| 36 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 37 taken | aux:pass |
| 37 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 had | parataxis |
| 38 | to | to | ADP | _ | 42 lodge | case |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 chief | det |
| 40 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 lodge | nmod:poss |
| 41 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 40 chief | case |
| 42 | lodge | lodge | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 taken | obl |
| 43 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 said | nsubj |
| 44 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 42 lodge | acl:relcl |
| 45 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 49 fox | mark |
| 46 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 49 fox | nsubj |
| 47 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 49 fox | cop |
| 48 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 49 fox | det |
| 49 | fox | fox | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 said | ccomp |
| 50 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 51 meant | nsubj |
| 51 | meant | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 49 fox | acl:relcl |
| 52 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 55 told | punct |
| 53 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 55 told | cc |
| 54 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 55 told | nsubj |
| 55 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 37 taken | conj |
| 56 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 57 daughters | nmod:poss |
| 57 | daughters | daughter | NOUN | Number=Plur | 55 told | iobj |
| 58 | to | to | PART | _ | 59 get | mark |
| 59 | get | get | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 55 told | ccomp |
| 60 | ready | ready | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 59 get | xcomp |
| 61 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 62 go | cc |
| 62 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 59 get | conj |
| 63 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 64 marry | cc |
| 64 | marry | marry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 59 get | conj |
| 65 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 67 Child | det |
| 66 | Nothing | Nothing | PROPN | Number=Sing | 67 Child | compound |
| 67 | Child | Child | PROPN | Number=Sing | 64 marry | obj |
| 68 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 had | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | have | past | Some | foxes | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fox=Patient | ||||
| 2 | have | past | some | other animals | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent animal=Patient | ||||
| 3 | go | past | Nothing Child | man's trap | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to trap=Initial_Location | ||||
| 4 | find | past | man | a white fox | place | with a tipped tail | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fox=Topic | ||
| 5 | tip | participle | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 6 | take | past · passive | it | the chief's lodge | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to lodge=Destination | ||||
| 7 | say speech: assert | past | man | the chief's lodge not said here | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent lodge=Topic | ||||
| 8 | is a | past | this | the fox | tree rules | ||||
| 9 | mean | past | man | the fox not said here | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fox=Topic | ||||
| 10 | tell speech: assert | past | man | man's daughters | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent daughter=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 11 | get not said to happen | to-infinitive | ready property | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 12 | go | infinitive | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 13 | marry | infinitive | the Nothing Child | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Patient |
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.
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