---
title: Most of the stories to be related here are very old, and date from a… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: Most of the stories to be related here are very old, and date from a period when men and animals were far more closely related than they seem to be to-day; when, as the tales clearly show, each could understand the other’s language, and when friendly intercourse between them was common. Who acts: Mo
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, The Bluejay Stories, sentence 8

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Most of the stories to be related here are very old, and date from a period when men and animals were far more closely related than they seem to be to-day; when, as the tales clearly show, each could understand the other’s language, and when friendly intercourse between them was common.

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**Who acts:** Most stories, men, stories, tales, each, friendly intercourse · **What happens:** relate, be, seem, show, understand · **To what, where:** language · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Most stories, men, stories, tales), 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:pg66596:3:8
# text = Most of the stories to be related here are very old, and date from a period when men and animals were far more closely related than they seem to be to-day; when, as the tales clearly show, each could understand the other’s language, and when friendly intercourse between them was common.
1	Most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	amod	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	related	relate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
8	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
9	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	very	very	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	date	date	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
15	from	from	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	period	period	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
18	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	26	mark	_	_
19	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	_
22	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
23	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	24	advmod	_	_
24	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	25	advmod	_	_
25	closely	closely	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	related	related	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	acl	_	_
27	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	seem	seem	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
31	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	cop	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	42	punct	_	_
36	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	42	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
38	as	as	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	nsubj	_	_
41	clearly	clearly	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
42	show	show	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
44	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	46	nsubj	_	_
45	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
46	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	ccomp	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	’s	's	PART	POS	_	48	case	_	_
50	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	59	cc	_	_
53	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	59	advmod	_	_
54	friendly	friendly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
55	intercourse	intercourse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	nsubj	_	_
56	between	between	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
57	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nmod	_	_
58	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	59	cop	_	_
59	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **relate** | to-infinitive · passive | the Most stories *not said here* |  |  | here |  |  | vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme» |
| 2 | **is** | present | the Most stories |  |  |  |  | date from a period *conj*; old *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | men and animals |  |  |  |  | closely, related *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **seem** | present | stories *= story* |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | to-infinitive | stories *= story* *not said here* |  |  |  | to day |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **show** | present | the tales |  |  |  |  | clearly *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 7 | **understand** | could | each | the other's language |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer language=Stimulus |
| 8 | **is** | past | friendly intercourse between stories |  |  |  |  | common *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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