---
title: He asked her what she was crying about, and she answered: “I am cryi… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: He asked her what she was crying about, and she answered: “I am crying for my lover, who is dead.” Who acts: Shield, woman, lover. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, Shield Quiver’s Wife, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Shield Quiver’s Wife, sentence 91

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He asked her what she was crying about, and she answered: “I am crying for my lover, who is dead.”

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**Who acts:** Shield, woman, lover · **What happens:** ask, cry, answer, be · **To what, where:** woman · **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, Shield Quiver’s Wife. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Shield, woman, lover), 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:pg66596:16:91
# text = He asked her what she was crying about, and she answered: “I am crying for my lover, who is dead.”
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	iobj	_	_
4	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	obj	_	_
5	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	crying	cry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
8	about	about	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
14	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	crying	cry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	ccomp	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	lover	lover	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	24	nsubj	_	_
23	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Shield |  | woman |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient |
| 2 | **cry** *speech: express* | past · progressive | woman |  |  |  |  | what *obj*; about *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
| 3 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | woman |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **cry** *speech: express* *in a quote* | present · progressive | woman |  |  |  |  | for my lover | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient S\_INF»: agent=Agent for lover=Recipient |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | my lover |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | tree rules |

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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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