---
title: And ours is a strange story; which seemed to the translator not unwo… — The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth · tree and pragmatics
description: And ours is a strange story; which seemed to the translator not unworthy of being clothed in an English dress, containing as it did so much in little bulk that, as the French say, _donne à penser_. Who acts: ours, strange story, dress, French. A sentence of «The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth»
---

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# The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth, The Descent of the Sun., sentence 32

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And ours is a strange story; which seemed to the translator not unworthy of being clothed in an English dress, containing as it did so much in little bulk that, as the French say, \_donne à penser\_.

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**Who acts:** ours, strange story, dress, French · **What happens:** be, seem, clothe, contain, do, say · **To what, where:** strange story, much, little bulk, donne · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth» by Unknown, The Descent of the Sun.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ours, strange story, dress, French), 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:pg68641:1:32
# text = And ours is a strange story; which seemed to the translator not unworthy of being clothed in an English dress, containing as it did so much in little bulk that, as the French say, _donne à penser_.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	ours	our	PRON	PRP	Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
8	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
9	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	translator	translator	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	unworthy	unworthy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
15	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	clothed	clothe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	advcl	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	English	English	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	dress	dress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	containing	contain	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	xcomp	_	_
24	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	ccomp	_	_
27	so	so	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	obj	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	bulk	bulk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
32	that	that	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	French	French	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	nsubj	_	_
37	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	donne	donne	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
41	à	à	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	penser	penser	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | ours | a strange story |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **seem** | past | a strange story |  |  |  |  | to the translator | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 3 | **clothe** | gerund · passive | a strange story *not said here* |  |  |  |  | in a English dress | vn dress-41.1.1-1-2 «Passive»: in dress=Theme |
| 4 | **contain** | gerund | a strange story *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **do** | past | dress | much |  | little bulk |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent much=Eventuality |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the French | donne |  |  |  | à penser | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent donne=Topic |

<!-- .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 descent of the sun: A cycle of birth» by Unknown, Project Gutenberg book 68641 (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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