--- title: In vain the Brahman pleaded for his life; the most he could gain was… — Indian Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: In vain the Brahman pleaded for his life; the most he could gain was a promise to abide by the decision of the first three things he chose to question as to the justice of the tiger's action. Who acts: Brahman, tiger. A sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7128/13/91/) [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 Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7128/) / [Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7128/13/) / 91 # Indian Fairy Tales, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 7, sentence 91 In vain the Brahman pleaded for his life; the most he could gain was a promise to abide by the decision of the first three things he chose to question as to the justice of the tiger's action. **Who acts:** Brahman, tiger · **What happens:** plead, gain, be, abide, choose, question · **To what, where:** vain Brahman, promise, first three things · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Brahman, tiger), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg7128:13:91 # text = In vain the Brahman pleaded for his life; the most he could gain was a promise to abide by the decision of the first three things he chose to question as to the justice of the tiger's action. 1 In in ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 2 vain vain ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 Brahman Brahman PROPN NNP Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 5 pleaded plead VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 for for ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 8 nmod:poss _ _ 8 life life NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 ; ; PUNCT : _ 14 punct _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 most most ADV RBS Degree=Sup 14 advmod _ _ 12 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 13 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 14 aux _ _ 14 gain gain VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 17 nsubj _ _ 15 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 cop _ _ 16 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 promise promise NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 ccomp _ _ 18 to to PART TO _ 19 mark _ _ 19 abide abide VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 17 acl _ _ 20 by by ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 decision decision NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obl _ _ 23 of of ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 25 first first ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 27 amod _ _ 26 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 27 nummod _ _ 27 things thing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 nmod _ _ 28 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 29 chose choose VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 acl:relcl _ _ 30 to to PART TO _ 31 mark _ _ 31 question question VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 29 xcomp _ _ 32 as as ADP IN ExtPos=ADP 35 case _ _ 33 to to ADP IN _ 32 fixed _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 justice justice NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ _ 36 of of ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 tiger tiger NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 39 's 's PART POS _ 38 case _ _ 40 action action NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 41 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **plead** *speech: request* | past | | | | the vain Brahman | | for Brahman's life | tree rules | | 2 | **gain** | could | Brahman | | | | | | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 3 | **is a** | past | | a promise | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **abide** | to-infinitive | | | | | | by the decision of the first three things | tree rules | | 5 | **choose** | past | Brahman | the first three things *not said here* | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **question** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | Brahman *not said here* | | | | | as the justice of the tiger's action | vn interrogate-37.1.3 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as justice=Attribute | | 7 | **decide** | | | the first three things | | | | | nom decision «act transitive»: of=patient | | 8 | **act** | | the tiger | | | | | | nom action «act intransitive»: poss=agent | 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 Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7128 (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 90](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7128/13/90/) - next →: [sentence 92](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7128/13/92/) - ↑ back to [Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7128/13/)