---
title: When he had tightened his belt and was just about to climb the tree,… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: When he had tightened his belt and was just about to climb the tree, the bear spoke to him and said: “You had better not do this. Who acts: boy, bear. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, Nothing Child, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Nothing Child, sentence 34

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When he had tightened his belt and was just about to climb the tree, the bear spoke to him and said: “You had better not do this.

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**Who acts:** boy, bear · **What happens:** tighten, be, speak, say, not do · **To what, where:** belt, boy, this · **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 (boy, bear), 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:pg66596:15:34
# text = When he had tightened his belt and was just about to climb the tree, the bear spoke to him and said: “You had better not do this.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	tightened	tighten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	belt	belt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
9	just	just	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	about	about	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	climb	climb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	parataxis	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obl	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
24	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
27	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	26	advmod	_	_
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	29	advmod	_	_
29	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	ccomp	_	_
30	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tighten** | past · perfect | boy | boy's belt |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent belt=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | past | boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | the tree *obj*; about, climb *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | the bear |  | boy |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to he=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the bear *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **not** **do** *in a quote* | past |  | this |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent this=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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