---
title: There were once a man and woman so truly good that the great god sai… — Indian tales of the great ones among men, women,… · tree and pragmatics
description: There were once a man and woman so truly good that the great god said he would reward them with whatever they wished to ask. Who acts: man, great god, Salim. A sentence of «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tre
---

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# Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people, Opening, part 4, sentence 83

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There were once a man and woman so truly good that the great god said he would reward them with whatever they wished to ask.

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**Who acts:** man, great god, Salim · **What happens:** be, say, reward, wish, ask · **To what, where:** gods · **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 (man, great god, Salim), 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:pg69647:4:84
# text = There were once a man and woman so truly good that the great god said he would reward them with whatever they wished to ask.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	2	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	truly	truly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	god	god	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	reward	reward	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	ccomp	_	_
19	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	18	obl	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a man and woman |  |  | there |  | once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the great god |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **reward** | would | Salim | gods *= god* |  |  |  | with whatever | vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient with whatever=Theme |
| 4 | **wish** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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