---
title: Some days when they found nothing, they dug clams on the flat, but s… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: Some days when they found nothing, they dug clams on the flat, but some days they could get no clams, and so they were hungry. Who acts: Bluejay, days. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, Bluejay, the Imitator, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Bluejay, the Imitator, sentence 4

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Some days when they found nothing, they dug clams on the flat, but some days they could get no clams, and so they were hungry.

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**Who acts:** Bluejay, days · **What happens:** find, dig, get, be · **To what, where:** nothing, clams, flat

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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 (Bluejay, days), 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:pg66596:5:4
# text = Some days when they found nothing, they dug clams on the flat, but some days they could get no clams, and so they were hungry.
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	2	det	_	_
2	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
3	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
6	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	dug	dig	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	clams	clam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	flat	flat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
16	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	17	det	_	_
17	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nsubj	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	advcl	_	_
21	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	22	det	_	_
22	clams	clam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	so	so	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
28	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | past | Bluejay | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Topic |
| 2 | **dig** | past | some days | clams |  | the flat |  | Bluejay *nsubj* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent clam=Theme on flat=Location |
| 3 | **get** | could | some days | no clams |  |  |  | Bluejay *nsubj* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer clam=Stimulus |
| 4 | **is** | past | Bluejay |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | tree rules |

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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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