---
title: He had in his hands his two favourite doves, and, wanting to fly kit… — Indian tales of the great ones among men, women,… · tree and pragmatics
description: He had in his hands his two favourite doves, and, wanting to fly kites with the boys at the fair, he told the little girl, who was our “Sun of Womankind”, to hold the doves till he should return. Who acts: way, little girl. A sentence of «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-peo
---

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# Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people, Opening, part 4, sentence 71

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He had in his hands his two favourite doves, and, wanting to fly kites with the boys at the fair, he told the little girl, who was our “Sun of Womankind”, to hold the doves till he should return.

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**Who acts:** way, little girl · **What happens:** have, want, fly, tell, be, hold · **To what, where:** two favourite doves, hands, kites, fair, little girl, Sun · **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 (way, little girl), 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:pg69647:4:71
# text = He had in his hands his two favourite doves, and, wanting to fly kites with the boys at the fair, he told the little girl, who was our “Sun of Womankind”, to hold the doves till he should return.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
7	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
8	favourite	favourite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	doves	dove	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	wanting	want	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	25	ccomp	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	kites	kite	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
20	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	fair	fair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
30	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	34	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
32	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
33	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	appos	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	Womankind	Womankind	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	ccomp	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	doves	dove	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obj	_	_
43	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
44	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
45	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
46	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | way | way's two favourite doves |  | way's hands |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dove=Patient |
| 2 | **want** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **fly** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | kites |  | the fair |  | with the boys | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent kite=Theme at fair=Location |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | way |  | the little girl |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent girl=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | the little girl | our Sun |  |  |  | of Womankind; our *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 6 | **hold** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | the doves |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dove=Theme |
| 7 | **return** | should | way |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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