---
title: Nothing Child sent word back that this was a hard thing he was asked… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: Nothing Child sent word back that this was a hard thing he was asked to do; he feared he could not do it, but he would try. Who acts: Nothing Child, this, son. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, Nothing Child, with its dependency tree and 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/15/171/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Punishment of the Stingy, and Othe…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/) / [Nothing Child](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/15/) / 171

# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Nothing Child, sentence 171

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing Child sent word back that this was a hard thing he was asked to do; he feared he could not do it, but he would try.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Nothing Child, this, son · **What happens:** send back, be, ask, do, fear, not do · **To what, where:** word, hard thing, son, prairie · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Nothing Child, this, son), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg66596:15:171
# text = Nothing Child sent word back that this was a hard thing he was asked to do; he feared he could not do it, but he would try.
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	compound	_	_
2	Child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	back	back	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
7	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	advcl	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	asked	ask	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl:relcl	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	feared	fear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
23	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	ccomp	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send back** | past | Nothing Child | word |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | past | this | a hard thing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past · passive |  | son |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | son *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **fear** | past | son |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **not** **do** | could | son | prairie |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 7 | **try** | would | son |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 170](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/15/170/)
- next →: [sentence 172](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/15/172/)
- ↑ back to [Nothing Child](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/15/)