---
title: At once the beaver began to fell some trees, and, as fast as he cut… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: At once the beaver began to fell some trees, and, as fast as he cut them into lengths, New Robe bound them together. Who acts: beaver, brother, New Robe. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, The Beaver Stick, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, The Beaver Stick, sentence 141

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At once the beaver began to fell some trees, and, as fast as he cut them into lengths, New Robe bound them together.

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**Who acts:** beaver, brother, New Robe · **What happens:** begin, fall, cut, bind · **To what, where:** trees, lengths

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This is a sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, The Beaver Stick. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (beaver, brother, New Robe), 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:pg66596:17:141
# text = At once the beaver began to fell some trees, and, as fast as he cut them into lengths, New Robe bound them together.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	obl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	beaver	beaver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
8	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	det	_	_
9	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	as	as	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	17	advmod	_	_
15	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
18	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	into	into	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	lengths	length	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	New	New	ADJ	NNP	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	Robe	Robe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	bound	bind	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	together	together	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the beaver |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **fall** | past | the beaver *not said here* | some trees |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient tree=Result |
| 3 | **cut** | past | brother | trees *= tree* |  | lengths |  | fast *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent they=Material into length=Product |
| 4 | **bind** | past | New Robe | trees *= tree* |  |  |  | together *property* | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |

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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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