---
title: The King sat steadfast: but alas! the bird seemed to grow heavier, w… — Indian tales of the great ones among men, women,… · tree and pragmatics
description: The King sat steadfast: but alas! the bird seemed to grow heavier, with each fresh gift of the King’s flesh. Who acts: King, alas. A sentence of «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Opening, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people, Opening, part 2, sentence 134

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The King sat steadfast: but alas! the bird seemed to grow heavier, with each fresh gift of the King’s flesh.

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**Who acts:** King, alas · **What happens:** sit, seem, grow, gift · **To what, where:** flesh

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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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, alas), 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:pg69647:2:134
# text = The King sat steadfast: but alas! the bird seemed to grow heavier, with each fresh gift of the King’s flesh.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	steadfast	steadfast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	alas	ala	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	heavier	heavy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	13	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	19	det	_	_
18	fresh	fresh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	gift	gift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	’s	's	PART	POS	_	22	case	_	_
24	flesh	flesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past | the King |  |  |  |  | steadfast *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **seem** | past | alas |  |  |  |  | with each fresh gift of the King's flesh; the bird *nsubj* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 3 | **grow** | to-infinitive | alas *not said here* |  |  |  |  | heavy *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **gift** |  |  | the King's flesh |  |  |  |  | nom gift «possession transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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