---
title: Passing through a field, she saw an old peasant at work, and begged… — Indian tales of the great ones among men, women,… · tree and pragmatics
description: Passing through a field, she saw an old peasant at work, and begged for some food, for she was starving. Who acts: Delhi. A sentence of «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Opening, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

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# Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people, Opening, part 3, sentence 15

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Passing through a field, she saw an old peasant at work, and begged for some food, for she was starving.

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**Who acts:** Delhi · **What happens:** pass, see, beg, starve · **To what, where:** field, old peasant, work

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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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Delhi), 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:pg69647:3:15
# text = Passing through a field, she saw an old peasant at work, and begged for some food, for she was starving.
1	Passing	pass	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
2	through	through	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
6	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	peasant	peasant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	begged	beg	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	18	det	_	_
18	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	starving	starve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | gerund | Delhi *not said here* |  |  | a field |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme through field=Location |
| 2 | **see** | past | Delhi | a old peasant |  | work |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer peasant=Stimulus |
| 3 | **beg** *speech: request* | participle | Delhi *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for some food | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent for food=Topic |
| 4 | **starve** | past · progressive | Delhi |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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