---
title: When they were about to start, his sister said to Bluejay, “You go d… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: When they were about to start, his sister said to Bluejay, “You go down first to the beach.” Who acts: friends, sister, Bluejay. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, Bluejay, the Imitator, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Bluejay, the Imitator, sentence 20

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When they were about to start, his sister said to Bluejay, “You go down first to the beach.”

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**Who acts:** friends, sister, Bluejay · **What happens:** be, start, say, go down · **To what, where:** Bluejay · **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, Bluejay, the Imitator. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (friends, sister, Bluejay), 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:pg66596:5:20
# text = When they were about to start, his sister said to Bluejay, “You go down first to the beach.”
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	start	start	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	Bluejay	Bluejay	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
17	down	down	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
18	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	16	advmod	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	beach	beach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | friends *= friend* |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **start** | to-infinitive | friends *= friend* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | shore's sister |  | Bluejay |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to bluejay=Recipient |
| 4 | **go down** *in a quote* | present | Bluejay |  |  |  |  | to the beach; down, first *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

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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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