---
title: When they had almost overtaken them Bluejay began to sing too, joini… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: When they had almost overtaken them Bluejay began to sing too, joining in their song, and at once the people were silent. Who acts: skull, Bluejay, people. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, Bluejay Visits the Ghosts, with its dependency t
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, Bluejay Visits the Ghosts, sentence 41

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When they had almost overtaken them Bluejay began to sing too, joining in their song, and at once the people were silent.

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**Who acts:** skull, Bluejay, people · **What happens:** overtake, begin, sing, join, be · **To what, where:** people

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This is a sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, Bluejay Visits the Ghosts. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (skull, Bluejay, people), 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:pg66596:6:41
# text = When they had almost overtaken them Bluejay began to sing too, joining in their song, and at once the people were silent.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	overtaken	overtake	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	Bluejay	Bluejay	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	too	too	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	joining	join	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
19	at	at	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	24	obl	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	silent	silent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **overtake** | past · perfect | skull | people |  |  |  | almost *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **begin** | past | Bluejay |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **sing** *speech: express* | to-infinitive | Bluejay *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **join** | gerund | Bluejay *not said here* |  |  |  |  | in skull's song | vn cooperate-73.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in song=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | past | the people |  |  |  |  | silent *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **sing** |  | skull |  |  |  |  |  | nom song «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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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