---
title: When two traders discuss the price of an article in the presence of… — Indian Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: When two traders discuss the price of an article in the presence of a purchaser, they use a riddling sort of language. Who acts: two traders, traders. A sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 14, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# Indian Fairy Tales, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 14, sentence 56

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When two traders discuss the price of an article in the presence of a purchaser, they use a riddling sort of language.

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**Who acts:** two traders, traders · **What happens:** discuss, use, riddle, sort · **To what, where:** price, riddling sort, language

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This is a sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (two traders, traders), 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:pg7128:20:56
# text = When two traders discuss the price of an article in the presence of a purchaser, they use a riddling sort of language.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	traders	trader	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	discuss	discuss	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	price	price	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	article	article	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	presence	presence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	purchaser	purchaser	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	use	use	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	riddling	riddle	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	21	amod	_	_
21	sort	sort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **discuss** *speech: other* | present | two traders | the price of a article in the presence of a purchaser |  |  |  |  | vn chit\_chat-37.6-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent price=Topic |
| 2 | **use** | present | traders *= trader* | a riddling sort of language |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sort=Patient |
| 3 | **riddle** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **sort** |  |  | language |  |  |  |  | nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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