---
title: An old woman went out to get some grass for her bed, and while she w… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: An old woman went out to get some grass for her bed, and while she was gathering it, she heard a sound as if a little child were crying. Who acts: old woman, woman, little child. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, Nothing Child, with its d
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Nothing Child, sentence 77

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An old woman went out to get some grass for her bed, and while she was gathering it, she heard a sound as if a little child were crying.

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**Who acts:** old woman, woman, little child · **What happens:** go out, get, gather, hear, cry · **To what, where:** grass, sound

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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 (old woman, woman, little child), 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:pg66596:15:77
# text = An old woman went out to get some grass for her bed, and while she was gathering it, she heard a sound as if a little child were crying.
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	out	out	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
8	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	det	_	_
9	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
15	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	gathering	gather	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
26	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
30	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	crying	cry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go out** | past | a old woman |  |  |  |  | out *property* | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **get** | to-infinitive | a old woman *not said here* | some grass |  |  |  | for woman's bed | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent grass=Theme for bed=Source |
| 3 | **gather** | past · progressive | woman | grass |  |  |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 4 | **hear** | past | woman | a sound |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer sound=Stimulus |
| 5 | **cry** *speech: express* | past · progressive | a little child |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «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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