---
title: “Alas,” said the whitehead when he had finished, “what you ask is be… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: “Alas,” said the whitehead when he had finished, “what you ask is beyond my power; nor could my husband, who is away hunting, help you. Who acts: Alas, Pi, you, husband. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, The Blindness of Pi-waṕ-ōk, with i
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, The Blindness of Pi-waṕ-ōk, sentence 109

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“Alas,” said the whitehead when he had finished, “what you ask is beyond my power; nor could my husband, who is away hunting, help you.

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**Who acts:** Alas, Pi, you, husband · **What happens:** say, finish, ask, be, help · **To what, where:** whitehead, power, you · **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 Blindness of Pi-waṕ-ōk. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Alas, Pi, you, husband), 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:pg66596:13:109
# text = “Alas,” said the whitehead when he had finished, “what you ask is beyond my power; nor could my husband, who is away hunting, help you.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Alas	ala	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	whitehead	whitehead	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	finished	finish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	16	obj	_	_
15	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	ask	ask	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	csubj	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
18	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	23	cc	_	_
23	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
24	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	29	nsubj	_	_
28	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
29	away	away	ADV	RB	_	25	acl	_	_
30	hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
32	help	help	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
33	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Alas | the whitehead |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent whitehead=Topic |
| 2 | **finish** | past · perfect | Pi |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | present | you | my power |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent what=Recipient |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | beyond my power; my *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | my husband |  |  |  |  | hunting *nsubj*; away *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **help** *in a quote* | present | Alas *not said here* |  | you |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Beneficiary |

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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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