---
title: Touching her feet with his forehead, as is the way of saluting mothe… — Indian tales of the great ones among men, women,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Touching her feet with his forehead, as is the way of saluting mother-people, he asked her advice. Who acts: Touching, way, KING. A sentence of «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Opening, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people, Opening, part 1, sentence 102

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Touching her feet with his forehead, as is the way of saluting mother-people, he asked her advice.

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**Who acts:** Touching, way, KING · **What happens:** touch, be, salute, ask · **To what, where:** feet, way, mother people, advice

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This is a sentence of «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Opening, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Touching, way, KING), 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:pg69647:1:102
# text = Touching her feet with his forehead, as is the way of saluting mother-people, he asked her advice.
1	Touching	touch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	csubj	_	_
2	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	forehead	forehead	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
8	as	as	ADP	IN	_	1	fixed	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl:unmarked	_	_
12	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
13	saluting	salute	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	acl	_	_
14	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
20	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	advice	advice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **touch** | gerund |  | Prithi's feet |  |  |  | with KING's forehead | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent foot=Experiencer with forehead=Instrument |
| 2 | **is a** | present | Touching | the way |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **salute** | gerund | the way *not said here* | mother people |  |  |  |  | vn curtsey-40.3.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Topic |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | KING | Prithi's advice |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent advice=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:** «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Project Gutenberg book 69647 (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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