---
title: But like the boys in fairy tales, he had wicked uncles, who made tro… — Indian tales of the great ones among men, women,… · tree and pragmatics
description: But like the boys in fairy tales, he had wicked uncles, who made trouble for him; and before he was seventeen years old, he had won and lost two of his kingdoms. Who acts: king, wicked uncles. A sentence of «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Openi
---

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# Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people, Opening, part 3, sentence 26

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But like the boys in fairy tales, he had wicked uncles, who made trouble for him; and before he was seventeen years old, he had won and lost two of his kingdoms.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** king, wicked uncles · **What happens:** have, make, be, win, lose · **To what, where:** wicked uncles, trouble, two

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (king, wicked uncles), 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:pg69647:3:26
# text = But like the boys in fairy tales, he had wicked uncles, who made trouble for him; and before he was seventeen years old, he had won and lost two of his kingdoms.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
2	like	like	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	uncles	uncle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
15	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	_
16	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
21	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
24	seventeen	seventeen	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	25	nummod	_	_
25	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl:unmarked	_	_
26	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	won	win	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	conj	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	conj	_	_
33	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	obj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	kingdoms	kingdom	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | king | wicked uncles |  |  |  | like the boys in fairy tales | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent uncle=Patient |
| 2 | **make** | past | wicked uncles | trouble |  |  |  | for king | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent trouble=Product for he=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **is** | past | king |  |  |  | year | old *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **win** | past · perfect | king |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **lose** | participle | king *not said here* | two of king's kingdoms |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent two=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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