---
title: “But you know you did say that the perfect boy was to be no older th… — Indian tales of the great ones among men, women,… · tree and pragmatics
description: “But you know you did say that the perfect boy was to be no older than his thirteenth year,” said Parvati. Who acts: you, perfect boy, Parvati. A sentence of «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» by Cornelia Sorabji, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the prag
---

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# Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people, Opening, part 5, sentence 12

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“But you know you did say that the perfect boy was to be no older than his thirteenth year,” said Parvati.

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**Who acts:** you, perfect boy, Parvati · **What happens:** know, say, not be · **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 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, perfect boy, Parvati), 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:pg69647:5:12
# text = “But you know you did say that the perfect boy was to be no older than his thirteenth year,” said Parvati.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	ccomp	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	perfect	perfect	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	cop	_	_
15	no	no	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	advcl	_	_
17	than	than	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
19	thirteenth	thirteenth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
23	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
24	Parvati	Parvati	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past · do-support | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | past | the perfect boy |  |  |  | year | old *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Parvati |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

<!-- .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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