---
title: Because of old a cow could be killed _only_ for a guest of great hon… — The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth · tree and pragmatics
description: Because of old a cow could be killed _only_ for a guest of great honour, a word of the most horrible signification actually acquired one honourable meaning, i.e. a guest of a high order. Who acts: word. A sentence of «The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth» by Unknown, A Sleep and a Dream., part 4
---

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# The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth, A Sleep and a Dream., part 4, sentence 20

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Because of old a cow could be killed \_only\_ for a guest of great honour, a word of the most horrible signification actually acquired one honourable meaning, i.e. a guest of a high order.

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**Who acts:** word · **What happens:** kill, acquire, word · **To what, where:** old cow, one honourable meaning, horrible signification

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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 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (word), 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:pg68641:6:20
# text = Because of old a cow could be killed _only_ for a guest of great honour, a word of the most horrible signification actually acquired one honourable meaning, i.e. a guest of a high order.
1	Because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	1	fixed	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	advcl	_	_
9	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	only	only	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	8	punct	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	guest	guest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	honour	honour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
23	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	24	advmod	_	_
24	horrible	horrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	signification	signification	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
26	actually	actually	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	acquired	acquire	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
28	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	30	nummod	_	_
29	honourable	honourable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	i.e.	i.e.	ADV	FW	_	34	advmod	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	guest	guest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kill** | could · passive |  | a old cow |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **acquire** | past | a word of the horrible signification | one honourable meaning and a guest of a high order |  |  |  | for a guest of great honour; actually *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent meaning=Theme for guest=Asset |
| 3 | **word** |  |  | the horrible signification |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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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