The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Little Friend Coyote, sentence 113
They were passing through the broken hills, and the coyote, quite a long way ahead, had climbed to the top of a low butte and looked cautiously over it, when he turned, ran back part way, and then circled off to the right.
Who acts: meat, coyote · What happens: pass, break, climb, look, turn, run back · To what, where: broken hills, coyote
This is a sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, Little Friend Coyote. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (meat, coyote), 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 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 passing | nsubj |
| 2 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 passing | aux |
| 3 | passing | pass | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 4 | through | through | ADP | _ | 7 hills | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 hills | det |
| 6 | broken | break | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 7 hills | amod |
| 7 | hills | hill | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 passing | obl |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 climbed | punct |
| 9 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 20 climbed | cc |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 coyote | det |
| 11 | coyote | coyote | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 climbed | nsubj:pass |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 way | punct |
| 13 | quite | quite | DET | PronType=Ind | 16 way | det:predet |
| 14 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 16 way | det |
| 15 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 way | amod |
| 16 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 coyote | appos |
| 17 | ahead | ahead | ADV | _ | 16 way | advmod |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 coyote | punct |
| 19 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 climbed | aux |
| 20 | climbed | climb | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 passing | parataxis |
| 21 | to | to | ADP | _ | 23 top | case |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 top | det |
| 23 | top | top | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 climbed | obl |
| 24 | of | of | ADP | _ | 27 butte | case |
| 25 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 27 butte | det |
| 26 | low | low | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 butte | amod |
| 27 | butte | butte | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 top | nmod |
| 28 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 29 looked | cc |
| 29 | looked | look | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 climbed | conj |
| 30 | cautiously | cautiously | ADV | _ | 29 looked | advmod |
| 31 | over | over | ADP | _ | 32 it | case |
| 32 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 looked | obl |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 turned | punct |
| 34 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 36 turned | advmod |
| 35 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 turned | nsubj |
| 36 | turned | turn | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 passing | parataxis |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 38 ran | punct |
| 38 | ran | run | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 turned | conj |
| 39 | back | back | ADV | _ | 38 ran | advmod |
| 40 | part | part | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 way | compound |
| 41 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 ran | parataxis |
| 42 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 45 circled | punct |
| 43 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 45 circled | cc |
| 44 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 45 circled | advmod |
| 45 | circled | circle | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 turned | conj |
| 46 | off | off | ADP | _ | 45 circled | compound:prt |
| 47 | to | to | ADP | _ | 49 right | case |
| 48 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 49 right | det |
| 49 | right | right | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 circled | obl |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 passing | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pass | past · progressive | meat | the broken hills | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme through hill=Location | ||||
| 2 | break | participle | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | ||||||
| 3 | climb | past · perfect · passive | the coyote | to the top of a low butte result | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V NP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: subject=Extent to top=Result | ||||
| 4 | look | past | over way; cautiously property | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent over it=Theme | |||||
| 5 | turn | past | coyote | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 6 | run back | past | coyote not said here | part way parataxis | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 7 | circle off | past | coyote not said here | then | to the right | vn contiguous_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=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/pg66596/18/113/