The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Nothing Child, sentence 31
For two days they travelled, and on the third day, as they were going along, the boy saw sitting in a tree-top a bird that was white as snow, and different from any bird that he had seen before.
Who acts: arrows, boy, bird · What happens: travel, go along, see, sit, be · To what, where: bird, tree top
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 (arrows, boy, bird), 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 | For | for | ADP | _ | 3 days | case |
| 2 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 3 days | nummod |
| 3 | days | day | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 travelled | obl |
| 4 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 travelled | nsubj |
| 5 | travelled | travel | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 saw | punct |
| 7 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 saw | cc |
| 8 | on | on | ADP | _ | 11 day | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 day | det |
| 10 | third | third | ADJ | Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 11 day | amod |
| 11 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 saw | obl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 going | punct |
| 13 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 16 going | mark |
| 14 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 going | nsubj |
| 15 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 going | aux |
| 16 | going | go | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 11 day | conj |
| 17 | along | along | ADV | _ | 16 going | advmod |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 day | punct |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 boy | det |
| 20 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 saw | nsubj |
| 21 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 travelled | conj |
| 22 | sitting | sit | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 21 saw | xcomp |
| 23 | in | in | ADP | _ | 27 top | case |
| 24 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 27 top | det |
| 25 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 top | compound |
| 26 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 25 tree | punct |
| 27 | top | top | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 sitting | obl |
| 28 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 29 bird | det |
| 29 | bird | bird | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 sitting | obl |
| 30 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 32 white | nsubj |
| 31 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 32 white | cop |
| 32 | white | white | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 29 bird | acl:relcl |
| 33 | as | as | ADP | _ | 34 snow | case |
| 34 | snow | snow | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 white | obl |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 different | punct |
| 36 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 37 different | cc |
| 37 | different | different | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 travelled | parataxis |
| 38 | from | from | ADP | _ | 40 bird | case |
| 39 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 40 bird | det |
| 40 | bird | bird | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 different | obl |
| 41 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 44 seen | mark |
| 42 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 seen | nsubj |
| 43 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 44 seen | aux |
| 44 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 37 different | advcl |
| 45 | before | before | ADV | _ | 44 seen | advmod |
| 46 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 travelled | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | travel | past | arrows = arrow | day | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | go along | past · progressive | arrows = arrow | along property | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | see | past | the boy | day | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | ||||
| 4 | sit | gerund | the boy not said here | a bird | a tree top | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in top=Location | |||
| 5 | is | past | a bird | as snow; white property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | see | past · perfect | boy | before property | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
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/pg66596/15/31/