The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Little Friend Coyote, sentence 29
Front Wolf and his friends had drawn the covers from their guns, prepared to fight and to sell their lives dearly, but when Front Wolf heard this, and saw that the strangers made no motions to shoot, he lowered his rifle and said: “They intend to make peace with us; I guess they are tired of being at war with our people.
Who acts: Front Wolf, Front, strangers · What happens: draw, prepare, fight, sell, hear, see · To what, where: covers, guns, lives, this, motions, rifle · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (Front Wolf, Front, strangers), 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 | Front | Front | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 Wolf | compound |
| 2 | Wolf | Wolf | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 drawn | nsubj |
| 3 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 5 friends | cc |
| 4 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 5 friends | nmod:poss |
| 5 | friends | friend | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 Wolf | conj |
| 6 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 drawn | aux |
| 7 | drawn | draw | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 covers | det |
| 9 | covers | cover | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 drawn | obj |
| 10 | from | from | ADP | _ | 12 guns | case |
| 11 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 12 guns | nmod:poss |
| 12 | guns | gun | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 covers | nmod |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 prepared | punct |
| 14 | prepared | prepare | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 9 covers | parataxis |
| 15 | to | to | PART | _ | 16 fight | mark |
| 16 | fight | fight | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 14 prepared | xcomp |
| 17 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 19 sell | cc |
| 18 | to | to | PART | _ | 19 sell | mark |
| 19 | sell | sell | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 16 fight | conj |
| 20 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 21 lives | nmod:poss |
| 21 | lives | life | NOUN | Number=Plur | 19 sell | obj |
| 22 | dearly | dearly | ADV | _ | 19 sell | advmod |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 heard | punct |
| 24 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 28 heard | cc |
| 25 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 28 heard | advmod |
| 26 | Front | Front | PROPN | Number=Sing | 28 heard | nsubj |
| 27 | Wolf | Wolf | PROPN | Number=Sing | 26 Front | flat |
| 28 | heard | hear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 drawn | parataxis |
| 29 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 28 heard | obj |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 saw | punct |
| 31 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 32 saw | cc |
| 32 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 28 heard | conj |
| 33 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 36 made | mark |
| 34 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 35 strangers | det |
| 35 | strangers | stranger | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 made | nsubj |
| 36 | made | make | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 32 saw | ccomp |
| 37 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 38 motions | det |
| 38 | motions | motion | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 made | obj |
| 39 | to | to | PART | _ | 40 shoot | mark |
| 40 | shoot | shoot | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 38 motions | acl |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 43 lowered | punct |
| 42 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 43 lowered | nsubj |
| 43 | lowered | lower | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 28 heard | conj |
| 44 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 45 rifle | nmod:poss |
| 45 | rifle | rifle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 lowered | obj |
| 46 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 47 said | cc |
| 47 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 43 lowered | conj |
| 48 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 51 intend | punct |
| 49 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 51 intend | punct |
| 50 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 51 intend | nsubj |
| 51 | intend | intend | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 47 said | ccomp |
| 52 | to | to | PART | _ | 53 make | mark |
| 53 | make | make | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 51 intend | xcomp |
| 54 | peace | peace | NOUN | Number=Sing | 53 make | obj |
| 55 | with | with | ADP | _ | 56 us | case |
| 56 | us | we | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 53 make | obl |
| 57 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 59 guess | punct |
| 58 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 59 guess | nsubj |
| 59 | guess | guess | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 drawn | parataxis |
| 60 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 62 tired | nsubj |
| 61 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 62 tired | cop |
| 62 | tired | tired | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 59 guess | ccomp |
| 63 | of | of | ADP | _ | 66 war | case |
| 64 | being | be | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 66 war | cop |
| 65 | at | at | ADP | _ | 66 war | case |
| 66 | war | war | NOUN | Number=Sing | 62 tired | obl |
| 67 | with | with | ADP | _ | 69 people | case |
| 68 | our | our | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 69 people | nmod:poss |
| 69 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 66 war | nmod |
| 70 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 drawn | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | draw | past · perfect | Front Wolf and Wolf's friends | the covers | friends's guns | tree rules | |||
| 2 | prepare | participle | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent clause=Attribute | ||||||
| 3 | fight not said to happen | to-infinitive | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 4 | sell | to-infinitive | friends's lives | dearly property | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Theme | ||||
| 5 | hear | past | Front | this | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus | ||||
| 6 | see | past | Front not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 7 | make | past | the strangers | no motions | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset motion=Product | ||||
| 8 | shoot | to-infinitive | the strangers not said here | no motions not said here | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 9 | lower | past | Front | Wolf's rifle | vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rifle=Theme | ||||
| 10 | say speech: assert | past | Front not said here | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 11 | intend in a quote | present | strangers = stranger | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 12 | make not said to happen, in a quote | to-infinitive | strangers = stranger not said here | peace | with us | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset peace=Product | |||
| 13 | guess in a quote | present | Front | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 14 | is in a quote | present | strangers = stranger | tired property | tree rules | ||||
| 15 | is in a quote | gerund | of war; with our people | 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.
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