The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Nothing Child, sentence 169
After some time it happened that food again became scarce in the camp, and the chief sent word to his son-in-law, asking him if he could not again bring the buffalo into the camp, as he had done before.
Who acts: it, food, chief, son · What happens: happen, become, send, ask, not bring, do · To what, where: word, law, son, buffalo, camp
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 (it, food, chief, son), 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 | After | after | ADP | _ | 3 time | case |
| 2 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 3 time | det |
| 3 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 happened | obl |
| 4 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 happened | nsubj |
| 5 | happened | happen | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 9 became | mark |
| 7 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 became | nsubj |
| 8 | again | again | ADV | _ | 7 food | advmod |
| 9 | became | become | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 happened | advcl |
| 10 | scarce | scarce | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 became | xcomp |
| 11 | in | in | ADP | _ | 13 camp | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 camp | det |
| 13 | camp | camp | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 scarce | obl |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 sent | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 sent | cc |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 chief | det |
| 17 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 sent | nsubj |
| 18 | sent | send | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 happened | conj |
| 19 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 sent | obj |
| 20 | to | to | ADP | _ | 26 law | case |
| 21 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 law | nmod:poss |
| 22 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 law | nsubj |
| 23 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 26 law | punct |
| 24 | in | in | ADP | _ | 26 law | case |
| 25 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 24 in | punct |
| 26 | law | law | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 sent | obl |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 asking | punct |
| 28 | asking | ask | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 18 sent | advcl |
| 29 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 asking | obj |
| 30 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 35 bring | mark |
| 31 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 bring | nsubj |
| 32 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 35 bring | aux |
| 33 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 35 bring | advmod |
| 34 | again | again | ADV | _ | 35 bring | advmod |
| 35 | bring | bring | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 28 asking | xcomp |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 buffalo | det |
| 37 | buffalo | buffalo | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 bring | obj |
| 38 | into | into | ADP | _ | 40 camp | case |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 camp | det |
| 40 | camp | camp | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 bring | obl |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 45 done | punct |
| 42 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 45 done | mark |
| 43 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 45 done | nsubj |
| 44 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 45 done | aux |
| 45 | done | do | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 35 bring | conj |
| 46 | before | before | ADV | _ | 45 done | advmod |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 happened | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | happen | past | it | time | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | become | past | food | scarce property | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | ||||
| 3 | send | past | the chief | word | husband's law son | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent word=Theme to law=Destination | |||
| 4 | ask speech: ask | gerund | the chief not said here | son | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 5 | not bring a condition, not said to happen | could | son | the buffalo | the camp | again | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent buffalo=Theme into camp=Destination | ||
| 6 | do | past · perfect | son | before property | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
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/pg66596/15/169/