---
title: Most of the waking hours were passed by the beavers in praying to th… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: Most of the waking hours were passed by the beavers in praying to their medicines and in singing their sacred songs, and the young man, listening, learned much of their secret wisdom. Who acts: beavers. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, T
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, The Beaver Stick, sentence 93

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Most of the waking hours were passed by the beavers in praying to their medicines and in singing their sacred songs, and the young man, listening, learned much of their secret wisdom.

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**Who acts:** beavers · **What happens:** pass, pray, sing, listen, learn, medicine · **To what, where:** Most waking hours, sacred songs, much

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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 (beavers), 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:pg66596:17:93
# text = Most of the waking hours were passed by the beavers in praying to their medicines and in singing their sacred songs, and the young man, listening, learned much of their secret wisdom.
1	Most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	waking	waking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	beavers	beaver	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
11	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	praying	pray	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	advcl	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	medicines	medicine	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
18	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	conj	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
20	sacred	sacred	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	songs	song	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
28	listening	listen	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
30	learned	learn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
31	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	obj	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
34	secret	secret	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	wisdom	wisdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | past · passive | the beavers | the Most waking hours |  |  |  | the young man *obl* | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme subject=Trajectory |
| 2 | **pray** | gerund | the beavers *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to beavers's medicines | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **sing** *speech: express* | gerund | the beavers *not said here* | beavers's sacred songs |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location song=Theme |
| 4 | **listen** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **learn** | past | the beavers *not said here* | much of beavers's secret wisdom |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent much=Topic |
| 6 | **medicine** |  | beavers *= beaver* |  |  |  |  |  | nom medicine «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |
| 7 | **sing** |  | beavers *= beaver* |  |  |  |  |  | nom song «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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