---
title: And this was in the days long ago, when men were knights and fought… — Indian tales of the great ones among men, women,… · tree and pragmatics
description: And this was in the days long ago, when men were knights and fought for their ladies, and did with their own hand the thing which was not easy to do. Who acts: this, men, thing. A sentence of «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Opening, part 1, wit
---

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# Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people, Opening, part 1, sentence 140

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And this was in the days long ago, when men were knights and fought for their ladies, and did with their own hand the thing which was not easy to do.

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**Who acts:** this, men, thing · **What happens:** be, fight, do, not be

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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 (this, men, thing), 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:pg69647:1:140
# text = And this was in the days long ago, when men were knights and fought for their ladies, and did with their own hand the thing which was not easy to do.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl:unmarked	_	_
7	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	8	advmod	_	_
8	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
11	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
12	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
13	knights	knight	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	fought	fight	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	ladies	lady	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
24	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	appos	_	_
28	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
30	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
31	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	acl:relcl	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | this |  |  |  | in the days | ago *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** | past | men |  |  |  |  | knights *nsubj* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **fight** | past |  |  |  |  |  | for Men's ladies | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **do** | past |  |  |  |  |  | with Men's own hand | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **not** **is** | past | the thing |  |  |  |  | easy *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **do** | to-infinitive | the thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
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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