---
title: The ring was heavy for so small a bird, and he would alight on the b… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: The ring was heavy for so small a bird, and he would alight on the backs of the Buffalo and fly from one to another. Who acts: ring, Buffalo. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, The Girl Who Was the Ring [1], with its dependency tree and th
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, The Girl Who Was the Ring \[1\], sentence 156

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The ring was heavy for so small a bird, and he would alight on the backs of the Buffalo and fly from one to another.

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**Who acts:** ring, Buffalo · **What happens:** be, alight, fly · **To what, where:** backs

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This is a sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, The Girl Who Was the Ring \[1\]. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ring, Buffalo), 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:pg66596:7:156
# text = The ring was heavy for so small a bird, and he would alight on the backs of the Buffalo and fly from one to another.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	alight	alight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
15	on	on	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	backs	back	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	Buffalo	Buffalo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
23	from	from	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	obl	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	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 | the ring |  |  |  |  | for a small bird; heavy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **alight** | would | Buffalo |  |  | the backs of the Buffalo |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **fly** | infinitive | Buffalo *not said here* |  |  |  |  | from one to another | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from one=Trajectory |

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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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