---
title: Sometimes it would be a small trickling stream in a coulée; sometime… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: Sometimes it would be a small trickling stream in a coulée; sometimes a soft, damp gravel-bed, where she was obliged to scoop out a hole; sometimes it was a muddy buffalo-wallow—and it was always strong with alkali—but it was the best there was. Who acts: water. A sentence of «The Punishment of the 
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Little Friend Coyote, sentence 120

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Sometimes it would be a small trickling stream in a coulée; sometimes a soft, damp gravel-bed, where she was obliged to scoop out a hole; sometimes it was a muddy buffalo-wallow—and it was always strong with alkali—but it was the best there was.

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**Who acts:** water · **What happens:** be, oblige, scoop out · **To what, where:** small trickling stream, coulée, pi, hole, muddy buffalo wallow

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This is a sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, Little Friend Coyote. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (water), 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:pg66596:18:120
# text = Sometimes it would be a small trickling stream in a coulée; sometimes a soft, damp gravel-bed, where she was obliged to scoop out a hole; sometimes it was a muddy buffalo-wallow—and it was always strong with alkali—but it was the best there was.
1	Sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	8	advmod	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	trickling	trickling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	coulée	coulée	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
13	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	20	advmod	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
15	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
17	damp	damp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
18	gravel	gravel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	25	advmod	_	_
23	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux:pass	_	_
25	obliged	oblige	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	conj	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	scoop	scoop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	out	out	ADP	RP	_	27	compound:prt	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	39	punct	_	_
32	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	39	advmod	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
34	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
36	muddy	muddy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
37	buffalo	buffalo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	wallow	wallow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	—	-	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
42	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|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	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	45	advmod	_	_
45	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	conj	_	_
46	with	with	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	alkali	alkali	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	53	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
50	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
51	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	cop	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	45	conj	_	_
54	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	55	expl	_	_
55	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | would | water | a small trickling stream and a soft damp gravel bed |  | a coulée |  | a soft damp gravel bed *conj*; sometimes *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **oblige** | past · passive |  | pi |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result |
| 3 | **scoop out** | to-infinitive |  | a hole |  |  |  |  | vn funnel-9.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent hole=Theme |
| 4 | **is a** | past | water | a muddy buffalo wallow |  |  |  | sometimes *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | past | water |  |  |  |  | with alkali; always, strong *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **is** | past | water |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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