--- title: So taking down his sword from the wall, and holding it in his hand,… — The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth · tree and pragmatics description: So taking down his sword from the wall, and holding it in his hand, he went out of his wretched lodging, saying to himself: Death is better than dishonour and insignificance, hunger and the loathing of life: for what is death but the beginning of another life, which cannot be worse than this one, be --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg68641/4/30/) [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/) / [The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg68641/) / [A Sleep and a Dream., part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg68641/4/) / 30 # The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth, A Sleep and a Dream., part 2, sentence 30 So taking down his sword from the wall, and holding it in his hand, he went out of his wretched lodging, saying to himself: Death is better than dishonour and insignificance, hunger and the loathing of life: for what is death but the beginning of another life, which cannot be worse than this one, be it what it may? **Who acts:** Umra, Death · **What happens:** take down, hold, go out, say, be, not be · **To what, where:** sword, wall, hand, wretched lodging, Umra, life · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (Umra, Death), 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:pg68641:4:30 # text = So taking down his sword from the wall, and holding it in his hand, he went out of his wretched lodging, saying to himself: Death is better than dishonour and insignificance, hunger and the loathing of life: for what is death but the beginning of another life, which cannot be worse than this one, be it what it may? 1 So so ADV RB _ 2 advmod _ _ 2 taking take VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 18 advcl _ _ 3 down down ADP RP _ 2 compound:prt _ _ 4 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 5 nmod:poss _ _ 5 sword sword NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obj _ _ 6 from from ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 wall wall NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 holding hold VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 2 conj _ _ 12 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 obj _ _ 13 in in ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 15 nmod:poss _ _ 15 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 17 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 18 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 19 out out ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 20 of of ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 21 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 23 nmod:poss _ _ 22 wretched wretched ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 23 lodging lodging NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 25 saying say VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 18 advcl _ _ 26 to to ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 25 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 : : PUNCT : _ 31 punct _ _ 29 Death Death PROPN NNP Number=Sing 31 nsubj _ _ 30 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 31 cop _ _ 31 better good ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 18 parataxis _ _ 32 than than ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 dishonour dishonour NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 35 insignificance insignificance NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 37 hunger hunger NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 conj _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 loathing loathing NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 conj _ _ 41 of of ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 life life NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 43 : : PUNCT : _ 47 punct _ _ 44 for for ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 45 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 47 nsubj _ _ 46 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 47 cop _ _ 47 death death NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ _ 48 but but CCONJ CC _ 50 cc _ _ 49 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 50 det _ _ 50 beginning beginning NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 conj _ _ 51 of of ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 52 another another DET DT PronType=Ind 53 det _ _ 53 life life NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 54 , , PUNCT , _ 59 punct _ _ 55 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 59 nsubj _ _ 56 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 59 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 57 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 59 advmod _ _ 58 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 59 cop _ _ 59 worse bad ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 47 acl:relcl _ _ 60 than than ADP IN _ 62 case _ _ 61 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 62 det _ _ 62 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 59 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 63 , , PUNCT , _ 65 punct _ _ 64 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 65 cop _ _ 65 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 obl _ _ 66 what what PRON WP PronType=Rel 18 obl _ _ 67 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 68 nsubj _ _ 68 may may AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 66 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 69 ? ? PUNCT . _ 18 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **take down** | gerund | Umra *not said here* | Umra's sword | | the wall | | | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sword=Theme | | 2 | **hold** | gerund | Umra *not said here* | sword | | Umra's hand | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Theme in hand=Location | | 3 | **go out** | past | Umra | Umra's wretched lodging | | | | what *obl* | tree rules | | 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | Umra *not said here* | | Umra | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to himself=Recipient | | 5 | **is** | present | Death | | | | | than dishonour and insignificance and hunger and the loathing of life; good *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **is** | present | | | | | the beginning of another life | for death but the beginning of another life; what *nsubj* | tree rules | | 7 | **not** **is** | can | death but the beginning of another life | | | | | than this one; bad *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **is a** | infinitive | | hand | | | | | tree rules | | 9 | **loathe** | | | life | | | | | nom loathing «feeling transitive»: of=patient | | 10 | **begin** | | | another life | | | | | nom beginning «event transitive»: of=patient | 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:** «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. - ← previous: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg68641/4/29/) - next →: [sentence 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg68641/4/31/) - ↑ back to [A Sleep and a Dream., part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg68641/4/)