---
title: As they lay there before they went to sleep, they were talking about… — The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian S… · tree and pragmatics
description: As they lay there before they went to sleep, they were talking about the different stars that they saw in the sky above them, saying how pretty they were. Who acts: girls. A sentence of «The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories» by George Bird Grinnell, The Star Boy, with its dependenc
---

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# The Punishment of the Stingy, and Other Indian Stories, The Star Boy, sentence 2

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As they lay there before they went to sleep, they were talking about the different stars that they saw in the sky above them, saying how pretty they were.

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**Who acts:** girls · **What happens:** lie, go, talk, see, say, be · **To what, where:** sleep, different stars, sky · **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, The Star Boy. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (girls), 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:pg66596:9:2
# text = As they lay there before they went to sleep, they were talking about the different stars that they saw in the sky above them, saying how pretty they were.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
5	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	sleep	sleep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
14	about	about	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	stars	star	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
18	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	20	obj	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	sky	sky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
24	above	above	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
27	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	conj	_	_
28	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	29	advmod	_	_
29	pretty	pretty	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lie** | past | girls *= girl* |  |  | there |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **go** | past | girls *= girl* |  |  | sleep |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to sleep=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **talk** | past · progressive | girls *= girl* |  |  |  |  | about the different stars | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about star=Topic |
| 4 | **see** | past | girls *= girl* | the different stars |  | the sky above stars |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer that=Stimulus |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | girls *= girl* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | pretty *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **be** | past | girls *= girl* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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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