---
title: This was not often done, but the players constantly hit the ring wit… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: This was not often done, but the players constantly hit the ring with their sticks and knocked it down, so that it ceased to roll. Who acts: players, ring. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, Little Friend Coyote, with its dependency tree a
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Little Friend Coyote, sentence 152

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This was not often done, but the players constantly hit the ring with their sticks and knocked it down, so that it ceased to roll.

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**Who acts:** players, ring · **What happens:** not do, hit, knock down, cease, roll · **To what, where:** This, ring

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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 (players, ring), 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:pg66596:18:152
# text = This was not often done, but the players constantly hit the ring with their sticks and knocked it down, so that it ceased to roll.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	often	often	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	players	player	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
10	constantly	constantly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	hit	hit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	sticks	stick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	knocked	knock	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	down	down	ADP	RP	_	18	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	25	mark	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	fixed	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	ceased	cease	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	roll	roll	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **do** | past · passive |  | This |  |  |  | often *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 2 | **hit** | past | the players | the ring |  |  |  | with motions's sticks; constantly *property* | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent ring=Patient with stick=Instrument |
| 3 | **knock down** | past | the players *not said here* | ring |  |  |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 4 | **cease** | past | ring |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **roll** | to-infinitive | ring *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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