---
title: First the Beaver talked to the young man, to tell him of his powers… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: First the Beaver talked to the young man, to tell him of his powers and his ways, so that he might perform wonderful acts. Who acts: Beaver, power. 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 an
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, The Grizzly Bear’s Medicine, sentence 249

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First the Beaver talked to the young man, to tell him of his powers and his ways, so that he might perform wonderful acts.

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**Who acts:** Beaver, power · **What happens:** talk, tell, perform · **To what, where:** beaver, wonderful acts · **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 (Beaver, power), 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:pg66596:10:249
# text = First the Beaver talked to the young man, to tell him of his powers and his ways, so that he might perform wonderful acts.
1	First	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Beaver	Beaver	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	talked	talk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	iobj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	powers	power	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	ways	way	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	24	mark	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	fixed	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	perform	perform	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
25	wonderful	wonderful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	acts	act	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | past | the Beaver |  |  |  |  | to the young man; first *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to man=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  |  | beaver |  |  | of beaver's powers and power's ways | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 3 | **perform** | might | power | wonderful acts |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent act=Theme |

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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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