The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Little Friend Coyote, sentence 53
As he neared the place of butchery he began to sing his war-song, and the poor wife, looking on, saw him smile as the great stone club descended, and he fell forward lifeless to the ground.
Who acts: One, poor wife · What happens: near, begin, sing, look on, see, smile · To what, where: place, butchery, war song, One, great stone club
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 (One, poor wife), 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 | As | as | SCONJ | _ | 3 neared | mark |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 neared | nsubj |
| 3 | neared | near | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 place | det |
| 5 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 neared | obj |
| 6 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 butchery | case |
| 7 | butchery | butchery | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 place | nmod |
| 8 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 began | nsubj |
| 9 | began | begin | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 butchery | acl:relcl |
| 10 | to | to | PART | _ | 11 sing | mark |
| 11 | sing | sing | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 9 began | xcomp |
| 12 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 15 song | nmod:poss |
| 13 | war | war | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 song | compound |
| 14 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 13 war | punct |
| 15 | song | song | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 sing | obj |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 saw | punct |
| 17 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 saw | cc |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 wife | det |
| 19 | poor | poor | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 wife | amod |
| 20 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 saw | nsubj |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 looking | punct |
| 22 | looking | look | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 20 wife | acl |
| 23 | on | on | ADP | _ | 22 looking | compound:prt |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 wife | punct |
| 25 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 neared | conj |
| 26 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 saw | obj |
| 27 | smile | smile | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 25 saw | xcomp |
| 28 | as | as | ADP | _ | 32 club | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 club | det |
| 30 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 32 club | amod |
| 31 | stone | stone | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 club | compound |
| 32 | club | club | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 smile | obl |
| 33 | descended | descend | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 32 club | acl |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 fell | punct |
| 35 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 37 fell | cc |
| 36 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 fell | nsubj |
| 37 | fell | fall | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 saw | conj |
| 38 | forward | forward | ADV | _ | 39 lifeless | advmod |
| 39 | lifeless | lifeless | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 37 fell | xcomp |
| 40 | to | to | ADP | _ | 42 ground | case |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 ground | det |
| 42 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 lifeless | obl |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 neared | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | near | past | One | the place of butchery | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | begin | past | One | butchery not said here | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | sing speech: express | to-infinitive | One not said here | One's war song | vn sound_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location song=Theme | ||||
| 4 | look on | gerund | the poor wife not said here | vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | |||||
| 5 | see | past | the poor wife | One | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | smile | infinitive | One not said here | as the great stone club | vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 7 | descend | participle | the great stone club not said here | vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 8 | fall | past | One | lifeless property | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 9 | sing | One | nom song «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |
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/pg66596/18/53/