---
title: I was the messenger of death sent to deal the blow on his neck. — Indian Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: I was the messenger of death sent to deal the blow on his neck. Who acts: I. A sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Indian Fairy Tales, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 9, sentence 70

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I was the messenger of death sent to deal the blow on his neck.

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** be, send, deal · **To what, where:** messenger, blow, neck

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This is a sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg7128:15:70
# text = I was the messenger of death sent to deal the blow on his neck.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	messenger	messenger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	deal	deal	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | I | the messenger |  |  |  | of death | tree rules |
| 2 | **send** | participle |  | the messenger *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **deal** | to-infinitive |  | the blow |  | honour's neck |  |  | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent blow=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 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.

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