The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, The Beaver Stick, sentence 6
Somewhere he had picked up an old bow, but it had no strength; and even if it had been strong and full of quick spring, the broken-pointed flint heads of his arrows would not have pierced the flesh of any large animal.
Who acts: bow · What happens: pick up, have, be, break, not pierce · To what, where: Robe, strength, broken pointed flint heads
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 (bow), 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 | Somewhere | somewhere | ADV | PronType=Ind | 4 picked | advmod |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 picked | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 picked | aux |
| 4 | picked | pick | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | up | up | ADP | _ | 4 picked | compound:prt |
| 6 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 bow | det |
| 7 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 bow | amod |
| 8 | bow | bow | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 picked | obj |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 had | punct |
| 10 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 12 had | cc |
| 11 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 had | nsubj |
| 12 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 picked | conj |
| 13 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 14 strength | det |
| 14 | strength | strength | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 had | obj |
| 15 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 22 strong | punct |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 strong | cc |
| 17 | even | even | ADV | _ | 22 strong | advmod |
| 18 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 22 strong | mark |
| 19 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 strong | nsubj |
| 20 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 strong | aux |
| 21 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 22 strong | cop |
| 22 | strong | strong | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 picked | parataxis |
| 23 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 24 full | cc |
| 24 | full | full | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 22 strong | conj |
| 25 | of | of | ADP | _ | 27 spring | case |
| 26 | quick | quick | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 spring | amod |
| 27 | spring | spring | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 full | obl |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 41 pierced | punct |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 heads | det |
| 30 | broken | break | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 34 heads | amod |
| 31 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 30 broken | punct |
| 32 | pointed | pointed | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 34 heads | amod |
| 33 | flint | flint | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 heads | compound |
| 34 | heads | head | NOUN | Number=Plur | 41 pierced | nsubj:pass |
| 35 | of | of | ADP | _ | 37 arrows | case |
| 36 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 37 arrows | nmod:poss |
| 37 | arrows | arrow | NOUN | Number=Plur | 34 heads | nmod |
| 38 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 41 pierced | aux |
| 39 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 41 pierced | advmod |
| 40 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 41 pierced | aux |
| 41 | pierced | pierce | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 22 strong | conj |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 43 flesh | det |
| 43 | flesh | flesh | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 pierced | obj |
| 44 | of | of | ADP | _ | 47 animal | case |
| 45 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 47 animal | det |
| 46 | large | large | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 47 animal | amod |
| 47 | animal | animal | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 flesh | nmod |
| 48 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 picked | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pick up | past · perfect · passive | Robe | a old bow obj; somewhere property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | have | past | bow | no strength | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent strength=Patient | ||||
| 3 | is a condition, not said to happen | past · perfect | bow | strong property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | be | bow not said here | spring | tree rules | |||||
| 5 | break | participle | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | ||||||
| 6 | not pierce | would · perfect · passive | the broken pointed flint heads of Robe's arrows | the flesh of any large animal obj | tree rules |
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/pg66596/17/6/