---
title: And nations, like the characters in our story, cling desperately, in… — The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth · tree and pragmatics
description: And nations, like the characters in our story, cling desperately, in periods of degradation and eclipse, to all that reminds them of a former state of ideal prosperity, which lingers in their literature and echoes in their souls, like dim recollections of a forgotten paradise, or faint reminiscences
---

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# The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth, The Descent of the Sun., sentence 80

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And nations, like the characters in our story, cling desperately, in periods of degradation and eclipse, to all that reminds them of a former state of ideal prosperity, which lingers in their literature and echoes in their souls, like dim recollections of a forgotten paradise, or faint reminiscences of a former birth.

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**Who acts:** that, ideal prosperity, former birth · **What happens:** remind, linger, forget, recollect, reminisce · **To what, where:** degradation, literature, nations, forgotten paradise

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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 (that, ideal prosperity, former birth), 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:pg68641:1:80
# text = And nations, like the characters in our story, cling desperately, in periods of degradation and eclipse, to all that reminds them of a former state of ideal prosperity, which lingers in their literature and echoes in their souls, like dim recollections of a forgotten paradise, or faint reminiscences of a former birth.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	2	cc	_	_
2	nations	nation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	characters	character	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	cling	cling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
12	desperately	desperately	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	periods	period	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	degradation	degradation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	eclipse	eclipse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	to	to	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	24	det:predet	_	_
23	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	24	nsubj	_	_
24	reminds	remind	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	former	former	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	state	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	ideal	ideal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	prosperity	prosperity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	35	nsubj	_	_
35	lingers	linger	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	acl:relcl	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	literature	literature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	echoes	echo	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	conj	_	_
41	in	in	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	souls	soul	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	like	like	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	dim	dim	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	recollections	recollection	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	conj	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
50	forgotten	forget	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	51	amod	_	_
51	paradise	paradise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
53	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
54	faint	faint	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
55	reminiscences	reminiscence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	appos	_	_
56	of	of	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
57	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
58	former	former	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	amod	_	_
59	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **remind** *speech: other* | present | that |  | degradation |  |  | of a former state of ideal prosperity | vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient PP.topic»: agent=Agent they=Recipient of state=Topic |
| 2 | **linger** | present | ideal prosperity |  |  | degradation's literature and echoes in degradation's souls |  | dim recollections of a forgotten paradise *conj* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in literature=Location |
| 3 | **forget** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **recollect** |  |  | a forgotten paradise |  |  |  |  | nom recollection «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 6 | **reminisce** |  | a former birth |  |  |  |  |  | nom reminiscence «cognition intransitive»: of=agent |

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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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