--- title: “Our only food,” said the old man, “is the bark of the trees; for, a… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics description: “Our only food,” said the old man, “is the bark of the trees; for, after all, you know, we are actually beavers, although we have the power to change our bodies into the form of any living thing. Who acts: only food, you, all, we. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/17/72/) [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/) / 72 # The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, The Beaver Stick, sentence 72 “Our only food,” said the old man, “is the bark of the trees; for, after all, you know, we are actually beavers, although we have the power to change our bodies into the form of any living thing. **Who acts:** only food, you, all, we, power · **What happens:** say, be, know, have, change, form · **To what, where:** old man, bark, beavers, power, bodies, form · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (only food, you, all, we), 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:pg66596:17:72 # text = “Our only food,” said the old man, “is the bark of the trees; for, after all, you know, we are actually beavers, although we have the power to change our bodies into the form of any living thing. 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 7 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 4 nmod:poss _ _ 3 only only ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 4 food food NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 6 ” " PUNCT '' _ 4 punct _ _ 7 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 9 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 10 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 12 “ " PUNCT `` _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 15 cop _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 bark bark NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 conj _ _ 16 of of ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 trees tree NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 19 ; ; PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 20 for for ADP IN _ 23 case _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 22 after after ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 23 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 31 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 25 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 26 know know VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 23 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 28 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 29 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 31 cop _ _ 30 actually actually ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 31 beavers beaver NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 33 although although SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 34 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 have have VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 power power NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ _ 38 to to PART TO _ 39 mark _ _ 39 change change VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 35 xcomp _ _ 40 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 41 nmod:poss _ _ 41 bodies body NOUN NNS Number=Plur 39 obj _ _ 42 into into ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 44 form form NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obl _ _ 45 of of ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 46 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 48 det _ _ 47 living living NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 compound _ _ 48 thing thing NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Our only food | the old man and the bark | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent man=Topic | | 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | Our only food *not said here* | the bark | | | | of the trees | tree rules | | 3 | **know** *in a quote* | present | you | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | all | beavers | | | | we *nsubj*; actually *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **have** *in a quote* | present | we | the power | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **change** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the power *not said here* | our bodies | | | | into the form of any living thing *result* | vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: agent=Agent body=Patient into form=Result | | 7 | **form** *in a quote* | | | any living thing | | | | | nom form «communication transitive»: of=patient | 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 71](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/17/71/) - next →: [sentence 73](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/17/73/) - ↑ back to [The Beaver Stick](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/17/)