--- title: “Let the old leaves, and the middle-aged leaves, and the little baby… — Indian tales of the great ones among men, women,… · tree and pragmatics description: “Let the old leaves, and the middle-aged leaves, and the little baby leaves fall from the trees,” was what they said, when they flew back to the Earth on the wings of the morning. Who acts: little baby leaves, leaves. A sentence of «Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people» b --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/5/24/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Indian tales of the great ones among m…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/) / [Opening, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/5/) / 24 # Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-people, Opening, part 5, sentence 24 “Let the old leaves, and the middle-aged leaves, and the little baby leaves fall from the trees,” was what they said, when they flew back to the Earth on the wings of the morning. **Who acts:** little baby leaves, leaves · **What happens:** let, fall, be, say, fly back · **To what, where:** old leaves, trees, wings · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (little baby leaves, leaves), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg69647:5:24 # text = “Let the old leaves, and the middle-aged leaves, and the little baby leaves fall from the trees,” was what they said, when they flew back to the Earth on the wings of the morning. 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Let let VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 26 parataxis _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 4 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 leaves leaf NOUN NNS Number=Plur 2 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 7 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 9 middle middle ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 10 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 9 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 11 aged aged ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 12 leaves leaf NOUN NNS Number=Plur 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 16 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 18 amod _ _ 17 baby baby NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 compound _ _ 18 leaves leaf NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 nsubj _ _ 19 fall fall VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 2 advcl _ _ 20 from from ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 trees tree NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 24 ” " PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ 25 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 cop _ _ 26 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 0 root _ _ 27 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 28 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 30 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 32 advmod _ _ 31 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 32 flew fly VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 28 ccomp _ _ 33 back back ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 34 to to ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 Earth Earth PROPN NNP Number=Sing 32 obl _ _ 37 on on ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 wings wing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 32 obl _ _ 40 of of ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 42 morning morning NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 26 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive | | the old leaves | | | | the aged leaves *obl* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leaf=Theme | | 2 | **fall** *in a quote* | present | the little baby leaves | | | the trees | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from tree=Initial\_Location | | 3 | **is a** | past | | | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | leaves *= leaf* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 5 | **fly back** | past | leaves *= leaf* | | | the wings of the morning | | to the Earth | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on wing=Location | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/5/23/) - next →: [sentence 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/5/25/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg69647/5/)