---
title: They tried to dive, but no matter how hard they might try their back… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: They tried to dive, but no matter how hard they might try their backs remained above the water. Who acts: children. 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 clause.
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Bluejay, the Imitator, sentence 64

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They tried to dive, but no matter how hard they might try their backs remained above the water.

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**Who acts:** children · **What happens:** try, dive, remain · **To what, where:** backs, water

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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 (children), 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:pg66596:5:64
# text = They tried to dive, but no matter how hard they might try their backs remained above the water.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	dive	dive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
7	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	8	det	_	_
8	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
9	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
10	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
14	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	backs	back	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
16	remained	remain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	xcomp	_	_
17	above	above	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | children *= child* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **dive** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | children *= child* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 3 | **try** | might | children *= child* | children's backs |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **remain** *not said to happen* | participle | children *= child* *not said here* |  |  | the water |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme above water=Location |

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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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