---
title: “What an old, old man you are!” said the perfect boy; “never have I… — Indian tales of the great ones among men, women,… · tree and pragmatics
description: “What an old, old man you are!” said the perfect boy; “never have I seen you before. Who acts: I. A sentence of «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Opening, part 4, 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 4, sentence 128

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“What an old, old man you are!” said the perfect boy; “never have I seen you before.

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** say, see · **To what, where:** you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I), 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:pg69647:4:129
# text = “What an old, old man you are!” said the perfect boy; “never have I seen you before.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj:outer	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
12	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	perfect	perfect	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	conj	_	_
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	before	before	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  | What *nsubj:outer*; the perfect boy *nsubj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **see** *in a quote* | present · perfect | I | you |  |  |  | before *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer you=Stimulus |

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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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