--- title: It seemed to his wife as if he were always away on some expedition,… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics description: It seemed to his wife as if he were always away on some expedition, so seldom was he at home, and as she had learned to respect and love him, she was very lonely during these long absences. Who acts: It, Wolf, wife. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bir --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/18/8/) [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/) / [Little Friend Coyote](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/18/) / 8 # The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Little Friend Coyote, sentence 8 It seemed to his wife as if he were always away on some expedition, so seldom was he at home, and as she had learned to respect and love him, she was very lonely during these long absences. **Who acts:** It, Wolf, wife · **What happens:** seem, be, learn, respect, love · **To what, where:** expedition, home, Wolf 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 (It, Wolf, wife), 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:pg66596:18:8 # text = It seemed to his wife as if he were always away on some expedition, so seldom was he at home, and as she had learned to respect and love him, she was very lonely during these long absences. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 seemed seem VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 to to ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 4 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 5 nmod:poss _ _ 5 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ _ 6 as as SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 7 if if SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 8 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 nsubj _ _ 9 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 cop _ _ 10 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 11 advmod _ _ 11 away away ADV RB _ 2 xcomp _ _ 12 on on ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 14 det _ _ 14 expedition expedition NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 16 so so ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 17 seldom seldom ADV RB _ 21 advmod _ _ 18 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 cop _ _ 19 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 20 at at ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 21 home home NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 24 as as SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 25 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 26 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 27 learned learn VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 2 parataxis _ _ 28 to to PART TO _ 29 mark _ _ 29 respect respect VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 27 xcomp _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 31 love love VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 29 conj _ _ 32 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 34 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 35 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 37 cop _ _ 36 very very ADV RB _ 37 advmod _ _ 37 lonely lonely ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 conj _ _ 38 during during ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 39 these this DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 41 det _ _ 40 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 41 amod _ _ 41 absences absence NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **seem** | past | It | | | | | to Wolf's wife | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Wolf | | | some expedition | | always, away *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **is** | past | Wolf | | | home | | seldom *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **learn** | past · perfect | wife | | | | | | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 5 | **respect** | to-infinitive | wife *not said here* | | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **love** | infinitive | wife *not said here* | Wolf | | | | | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus | | 7 | **is** | past | wife | | | | during this long absences | lonely *property* | 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 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/18/7/) - next →: [sentence 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/18/9/) - ↑ back to [Little Friend Coyote](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66596/18/)