---
title: Then he said slowly, in a low voice, as if speaking rather to himsel… — The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he said slowly, in a low voice, as if speaking rather to himself than me: How should it not return? Who acts: Hindoo, festival. A sentence of «The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth» by Unknown, The Descent of the Sun., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth, The Descent of the Sun., sentence 72

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Then he said slowly, in a low voice, as if speaking rather to himself than me: How should it not return?

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**Who acts:** Hindoo, festival · **What happens:** say, speak, not return · **To what, where:** low voice, Hindoo · **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 (Hindoo, festival), 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:pg68641:1:72
# text = Then he said slowly, in a low voice, as if speaking rather to himself than me: How should it not return?
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	low	low	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
13	speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
14	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	13	obl	_	_
17	than	than	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
20	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	24	advmod	_	_
21	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
24	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Hindoo |  |  | a low voice | then | slowly *property* | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent in voice=Manner |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | gerund | Hindoo *not said here* |  | Hindoo |  |  | than me | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to himself=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **not** **return** | should | festival |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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 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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