---
title: But he said: “No. It is useless for me to try to do things that I kn… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: But he said: “No. It is useless for me to try to do things that I know I cannot do. Who acts: husband, No.. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, Nothing Child, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Nothing Child, sentence 167

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But he said: “No. It is useless for me to try to do things that I know I cannot do.

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**Who acts:** husband, No. · **What happens:** say, be, try, do, know, not do · **To what, where:** things · **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, Nothing Child. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (husband, No.), 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:pg66596:15:167
# text = But he said: “No. It is useless for me to try to do things that I know I cannot do.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
5	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	No.	no.	NOUN	NN	Abbr=Yes|Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	csubj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
17	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	19	obl	_	_
18	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
23	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	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 | husband |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | No. |  |  |  |  | for husband; It *nsubj*; useless *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **try** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **do** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | things |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality |
| 5 | **know** *in a quote* | present | husband | things |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **not** **do** *in a quote* | can | husband |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
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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