---
title: The chief of the animals spoke to him, saying: “My son, at this time… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: The chief of the animals spoke to him, saying: “My son, at this time we can do nothing for you. Who acts: chief, we. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, The Grizzly Bear’s Medicine, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, The Grizzly Bear’s Medicine, sentence 244

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The chief of the animals spoke to him, saying: “My son, at this time we can do nothing for you.

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**Who acts:** chief, we · **What happens:** speak, say, do · **To what, where:** pool, nothing · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, The Grizzly Bear’s Medicine. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief, we), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg66596:10:244
# text = The chief of the animals spoke to him, saying: “My son, at this time we can do nothing for you.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
6	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	18	det	_	_
18	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
19	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
22	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	21	obj	_	_
23	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | the chief of the animals |  | pool |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to he=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the chief of the animals *not said here* |  |  |  |  | My son *vocative* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **do** *in a quote* | can | we | nothing |  |  | time | for you | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Eventuality |

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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.

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**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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