---
title: Then seeing that there was no help for it, the Swans said: Be it so:… — The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth · tree and pragmatics
description: Then seeing that there was no help for it, the Swans said: Be it so: and they bound themselves to him by an oath. Who acts: Swans, help. A sentence of «The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth» by Unknown, A Sleep and a Dream., part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The descent of the sun: A cycle of birth, A Sleep and a Dream., part 5, sentence 14

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Then seeing that there was no help for it, the Swans said: Be it so: and they bound themselves to him by an oath.

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**Who acts:** Swans, help · **What happens:** see, be, say, bound · **To what, where:** Land, Swans, help · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Swans, help), 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:pg68641:7:14
# text = Then seeing that there was no help for it, the Swans said: Be it so: and they bound themselves to him by an oath.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	5	expl	_	_
5	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	7	det	_	_
7	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	Swans	Swan	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
15	Be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	cop	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	ccomp	_	_
17	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	bound	bound	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	ccomp	_	_
22	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	21	obj	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	_
25	by	by	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	oath	oath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | gerund | the Swans *not said here* |  |  |  | then |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **be** | past | no help for Land |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Swans |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **is a** | infinitive |  | Land |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **bound** | present | Swans *= swan* | Swans *= swan* | help |  |  | by a oath | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location themselves=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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