---
title: On the one at the back sat a kind-looking old man, who spoke pleasan… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: On the one at the back sat a kind-looking old man, who spoke pleasantly to him and bade him take a seat by his side; and as New Robe stepped out of the pool he found that he was perfectly dry—no part of his clothing or person had been wet by the water he had passed through. Who acts: looking old man
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, The Beaver Stick, sentence 58

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On the one at the back sat a kind-looking old man, who spoke pleasantly to him and bade him take a seat by his side; and as New Robe stepped out of the pool he found that he was perfectly dry—no part of his clothing or person had been wet by the water he had passed through.

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**Who acts:** looking old man, New Robe, Robe, water · **What happens:** sit, look, speak, bade, take, step out · **To what, where:** looking old man, man, seat, pool, part, water · **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, 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 (looking old man, New Robe, Robe, water), 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:pg66596:17:58
# text = On the one at the back sat a kind-looking old man, who spoke pleasantly to him and bade him take a seat by his side; and as New Robe stepped out of the pool he found that he was perfectly dry—no part of his clothing or person had been wet by the water he had passed through.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
9	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	looking	look	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	amod	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
17	pleasantly	pleasantly	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	bade	bade	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
22	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	seat	seat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	by	by	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	40	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
31	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
32	New	New	ADJ	NNP	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	Robe	Robe	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
34	stepped	step	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	advcl	_	_
35	out	out	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	pool	pool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
41	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
42	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
43	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	cop	_	_
44	perfectly	perfectly	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
45	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	48	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	48	det	_	_
48	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	nsubj:pass	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
51	clothing	clothing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	_
52	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
53	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	conj	_	_
54	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	56	aux	_	_
55	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	56	aux:pass	_	_
56	wet	wet	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	45	parataxis	_	_
57	by	by	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	_
60	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	62	nsubj	_	_
61	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	62	aux	_	_
62	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	59	acl:relcl	_	_
63	through	through	ADV	RB	_	62	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past |  | a looking old man |  |  |  | on the one at the back | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent man=Theme on one=Location |
| 2 | **look** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | a looking old man |  | man |  |  | pleasantly *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to he=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **bade** | past |  | man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **take** | infinitive |  | a seat |  |  |  | by man's side | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent seat=Theme |
| 6 | **step out** | past | New Robe | the pool |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location pool=Theme |
| 7 | **find** | past | Robe |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **is** | past | Robe |  |  |  |  | dry, perfectly *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **wet** | past · perfect · passive | the water | no part of Robe's clothing or person |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |
| 10 | **pass through** | past · perfect | Robe | the water *not said here* |  |  |  | through *property* | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme water=Trajectory |

<!-- .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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