---
title: Or, if for a while all these fail, there are flat-fish on the shoals… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: Or, if for a while all these fail, there are flat-fish on the shoals, clams in the mud flats, and mussels clinging to the rocks. Who acts: mussels. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, The Bluejay Stories, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, The Bluejay Stories, sentence 5

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Or, if for a while all these fail, there are flat-fish on the shoals, clams in the mud flats, and mussels clinging to the rocks.

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**Who acts:** mussels · **What happens:** be, cling · **To what, where:** flat fish, shoals

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This is a sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, The Bluejay Stories. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mussels), 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:pg66596:3:5
# text = Or, if for a while all these fail, there are flat-fish on the shoals, clams in the mud flats, and mussels clinging to the rocks.
1	Or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	while	while	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
7	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	9	det:predet	_	_
8	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	9	det	_	_
9	fail	fail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
11	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	12	expl	_	_
12	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	flat	flat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
16	on	on	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	shoals	shoal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	clams	clam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	conj	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	compound	_	_
24	flats	flat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	mussels	mussel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	conj	_	_
28	clinging	cling	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	27	acl	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | flat fish |  | the shoals and clams in the mud flats and mussels |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **cling** | gerund | mussels *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the rocks | vn cling-22.5 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to rock=Co-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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