--- title: “Thou canst not grasp an unsubstantial vision,” replied the angel: “… — Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth · tree and pragmatics description: “Thou canst not grasp an unsubstantial vision,” replied the angel: “I have now shewn thee what would have been the destiny of thy son, had he continued longer on the earth.” Who acts: Thou, angel, son. A sentence of «Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth» by Anonymous, The Story of Bozaldab --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62868/20/12/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Oriental tales, for the entertainment…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62868/) / [The Story of Bozaldab.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62868/20/) / 12 # Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth, The Story of Bozaldab., sentence 12 “Thou canst not grasp an unsubstantial vision,” replied the angel: “I have now shewn thee what would have been the destiny of thy son, had he continued longer on the earth.” **Who acts:** Thou, angel, son · **What happens:** not grasp, reply, shew, be, have, continue · **To what, where:** unsubstantial vision, thee, destiny, earth · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth» by Anonymous, The Story of Bozaldab.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Thou, angel, son), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg62868:20:12 # text = “Thou canst not grasp an unsubstantial vision,” replied the angel: “I have now shewn thee what would have been the destiny of thy son, had he continued longer on the earth.” 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Thou thou PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 5 nsubj _ _ 3 canst can AUX MD Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 4 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 5 advmod _ _ 5 grasp grasp VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 11 ccomp _ _ 6 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 7 unsubstantial unsubstantial ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 amod _ _ 8 vision vision NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 10 ” " PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ 11 replied reply VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 angel angel NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 14 : : PUNCT : _ 19 punct _ _ 15 “ " PUNCT `` _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 16 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 17 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 19 aux _ _ 18 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 19 advmod _ _ 19 shewn shew VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 11 conj _ _ 20 thee thou PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 19 obj _ _ 21 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 26 nsubj _ _ 22 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 26 aux _ _ 23 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 26 aux _ _ 24 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 26 cop _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 destiny destiny NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 parataxis _ _ 27 of of ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 thy thy PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 29 nmod:poss _ _ 29 son son NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 31 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 conj _ _ 32 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 33 continued continue VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 ccomp _ _ 34 longer long ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 33 advmod _ _ 35 on on ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 earth earth NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 38 . . PUNCT . _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 39 ” " PUNCT '' _ 11 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **grasp** *in a quote* | can | Thou | a unsubstantial vision | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer vision=Stimulus | | 2 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the angel | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **shew** *in a quote* | present · perfect | the angel *= angel* | thee | | | now | | tree rules | | 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | would · perfect | | the destiny | | | | of thy son; what *nsubj* | tree rules | | 5 | **have** *in a quote* | past | the angel *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **continue** *in a quote* | past | son | | | the earth | | long *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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. **Text:** «Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth» by Anonymous, Project Gutenberg book 62868 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62868/20/11/) - next →: [sentence 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62868/20/13/) - ↑ back to [The Story of Bozaldab.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62868/20/)