---
title: “And poor old King Death was not clever enough to understand this, a… — Indian tales of the great ones among men, women,… · tree and pragmatics
description: “And poor old King Death was not clever enough to understand this, and thought that you meant him to take the boy away. Who acts: poor old Death, you. 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 t
---

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# Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people, Opening, part 5, sentence 17

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“And poor old King Death was not clever enough to understand this, and thought that you meant him to take the boy away.

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**Who acts:** poor old Death, you · **What happens:** not be, understand, think, mean, take away · **To what, where:** this, Death, boy · **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 (poor old Death, you), 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:pg69647:5:17
# text = “And poor old King Death was not clever enough to understand this, and thought that you meant him to take the boy away.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
3	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod:desc	_	_
6	Death	Death	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
10	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	advcl	_	_
13	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
18	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	meant	mean	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	ccomp	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	away	away	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | past | poor old Death  King |  |  |  |  | clever, enough *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **understand** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | poor old Death  King *not said here* | this |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* *in a quote* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **mean** *in a quote* | past | you | Death |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **take away** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | the boy |  |  |  | away *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boy=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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