The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, The Beaver Stick, sentence 150
Sprinkling the water on the hot stones, he began the sacred songs that the old man beaver had taught him, and, as he sang, some of the fur with which his body had been gradually covered during the winter fell to the ground.
Who acts: man, some · What happens: sprinkle, begin, teach, sing, cover, fall · To what, where: water, hot stones, sacred songs, old man beaver, man, body
This is a sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, The Beaver Stick. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, some), 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 | Sprinkling | sprinkle | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 10 began | advcl |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 water | det |
| 3 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Sprinkling | obj |
| 4 | on | on | ADP | _ | 7 stones | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 stones | det |
| 6 | hot | hot | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 stones | amod |
| 7 | stones | stone | NOUN | Number=Plur | 1 Sprinkling | obl |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Sprinkling | punct |
| 9 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 began | nsubj |
| 10 | began | begin | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 songs | det |
| 12 | sacred | sacred | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 songs | amod |
| 13 | songs | song | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 began | obj |
| 14 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 20 taught | obj |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 beaver | det |
| 16 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 beaver | amod |
| 17 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 beaver | compound |
| 18 | beaver | beaver | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 taught | nsubj:pass |
| 19 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 taught | aux |
| 20 | taught | teach | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 13 songs | acl:relcl |
| 21 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 taught | obj |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 sang | punct |
| 23 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 27 sang | cc |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 sang | punct |
| 25 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 27 sang | mark |
| 26 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 sang | nsubj |
| 27 | sang | sing | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 began | conj |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 fell | punct |
| 29 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 44 fell | nsubj |
| 30 | of | of | ADP | _ | 32 fur | case |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 fur | det |
| 32 | fur | fur | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 some | nmod |
| 33 | with | with | ADP | _ | 34 which | case |
| 34 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 40 covered | obl |
| 35 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 36 body | nmod:poss |
| 36 | body | body | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 covered | nsubj:pass |
| 37 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 40 covered | aux |
| 38 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 40 covered | aux:pass |
| 39 | gradually | gradually | ADV | _ | 40 covered | advmod |
| 40 | covered | cover | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 32 fur | acl:relcl |
| 41 | during | during | ADP | _ | 43 winter | case |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 43 winter | det |
| 43 | winter | winter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 covered | obl |
| 44 | fell | fall | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 began | conj |
| 45 | to | to | ADP | _ | 47 ground | case |
| 46 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 47 ground | det |
| 47 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 fell | obl |
| 48 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 10 began | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | sprinkle | gerund | man not said here | the water | the hot stones | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent water=Theme on stone=Destination | |||
| 2 | begin | past | man | the sacred songs | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent song=Eventuality | ||||
| 3 | teach speech: other | past · perfect · passive | the old man beaver | man | the sacred songs obj | tree rules | |||
| 4 | sing speech: express | past | man | vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location | |||||
| 5 | cover | past · perfect · passive | man's body | winter | with the fur; gradually property | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with which=Theme | |||
| 6 | fall | past | some of the fur | to the ground | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to ground=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/pg66596/17/150/