--- title: Somewhere he had picked up an old bow, but it had no strength; and e… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics description: Somewhere he had picked up an old bow, but it had no strength; and even if it had been strong and full of quick spring, the broken-pointed flint heads of his arrows would not have pierced the flesh of any large animal. Who acts: bow. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stor --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/17/6/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Punishment of the Stingy, and Othe…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/) / [The Beaver Stick](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/17/) / 6 # The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, The Beaver Stick, sentence 6 Somewhere he had picked up an old bow, but it had no strength; and even if it had been strong and full of quick spring, the broken-pointed flint heads of his arrows would not have pierced the flesh of any large animal. **Who acts:** bow · **What happens:** pick up, have, be, break, not pierce · **To what, where:** Robe, strength, broken pointed flint heads 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 (bow), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg66596:17:6 # text = Somewhere he had picked up an old bow, but it had no strength; and even if it had been strong and full of quick spring, the broken-pointed flint heads of his arrows would not have pierced the flesh of any large animal. 1 Somewhere somewhere ADV RB PronType=Ind 4 advmod _ _ 2 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj:pass _ _ 3 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 picked pick VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 5 up up ADP RP _ 4 compound:prt _ _ 6 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 7 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 amod _ _ 8 bow bow NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 10 but but CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 11 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 12 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 13 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 14 det _ _ 14 strength strength NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 15 ; ; PUNCT : _ 22 punct _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 17 even even ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ _ 18 if if SCONJ IN _ 22 mark _ _ 19 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 20 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 21 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 22 cop _ _ 22 strong strong ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 parataxis _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 24 full full ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 conj _ _ 25 of of ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 quick quick ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 27 spring spring NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 30 broken break VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 34 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 31 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 30 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 32 pointed pointed ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 amod _ _ 33 flint flint NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 compound _ _ 34 heads head NOUN NNS Number=Plur 41 nsubj:pass _ _ 35 of of ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 36 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 37 nmod:poss _ _ 37 arrows arrow NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 nmod _ _ 38 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 41 aux _ _ 39 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 41 advmod _ _ 40 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 41 aux _ _ 41 pierced pierce VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 22 conj _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 flesh flesh NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obj _ _ 44 of of ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 45 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 47 det _ _ 46 large large ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 amod _ _ 47 animal animal NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **pick up** | past · perfect · passive | | Robe | | | | a old bow *obj*; somewhere *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **have** | past | bow | no strength | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent strength=Patient | | 3 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | bow | | | | | strong *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **be** | | bow *not said here* | | | | spring | | tree rules | | 5 | **break** | participle | | | | | | | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | | 6 | **not** **pierce** | would · perfect · passive | | the broken pointed flint heads of Robe's arrows | | | | the flesh of any large animal *obj* | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/17/5/) - next →: [sentence 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/17/7/) - ↑ back to [The Beaver Stick](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/17/)