---
title: And little by little all he had melted away like snow in the sun of… — The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth · tree and pragmatics
description: And little by little all he had melted away like snow in the sun of his generosity, or was swallowed up by the ocean of greedy gamblers, among whom he scattered it with an open hand, asking, like his ancestor[5], nothing in return. Who acts: ocean, Umra. A sentence of «The descent of the sun: A cycl
---

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# The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth, A Sleep and a Dream., part 2, sentence 28

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And little by little all he had melted away like snow in the sun of his generosity, or was swallowed up by the ocean of greedy gamblers, among whom he scattered it with an open hand, asking, like his ancestor\[5\], nothing in return.

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**Who acts:** ocean, Umra · **What happens:** melt away, swallow up, scatter, ask · **To what, where:** all, sun, ocean, ancestor

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This is a sentence of «The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth» by Unknown, A Sleep and a Dream., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ocean, Umra), 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:pg68641:4:28
# text = And little by little all he had melted away like snow in the sun of his generosity, or was swallowed up by the ocean of greedy gamblers, among whom he scattered it with an open hand, asking, like his ancestor[5], nothing in return.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
3	by	by	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	melted	melt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	away	away	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	like	like	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	generosity	generosity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	swallowed	swallow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
22	up	up	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	_
23	by	by	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	ocean	ocean	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	greedy	greedy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	gamblers	gambler	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	among	among	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	33	obl	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	scattered	scatter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	_
35	with	with	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
40	asking	ask	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	33	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
42	like	like	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	ancestor	ancestor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	[	[	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	5	5	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	44	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
49	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	40	obl	_	_
50	in	in	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	return	return	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **melt away** | past · perfect · passive |  | all |  | the sun of Umra's generosity |  | like snow; Umra *nsubj*; away *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Result |
| 2 | **swallow up** | past · passive | the ocean of greedy gamblers |  |  |  |  |  | vn hiccup-40.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **scatter** | past | Umra | ocean |  |  |  | with a open hand; whom *obl* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme among whom=Destination |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund | Umra *not said here* | Umra's ancestor |  |  |  | nothing in return *obl* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent ancestor=Recipient |

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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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