---
title: While we were walking together he asked whether he should carry me o… — Indian Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: While we were walking together he asked whether he should carry me or I should carry him, as he thought that would be a pleasanter mode of proceeding." Who acts: we, man, I, that. A sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 20, with its dependency tree and
---

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# Indian Fairy Tales, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 20, sentence 23

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
While we were walking together he asked whether he should carry me or I should carry him, as he thought that would be a pleasanter mode of proceeding."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** we, man, I, that · **What happens:** walk, ask, carry, think, be · **To what, where:** me, man, pleasanter mode · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, man, I, that), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg7128:26:23
# text = While we were walking together he asked whether he should carry me or I should carry him, as he thought that would be a pleasanter mode of proceeding."
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	walking	walk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
5	together	together	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	_
12	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
22	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	27	nsubj	_	_
23	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
24	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	cop	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	pleasanter	pleasant	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	27	amod	_	_
27	mode	mode	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	ccomp	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	proceeding	proceeding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **walk** | past · progressive | we |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **carry** | should | man | me |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 4 | **carry** | should | I | man |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 5 | **think** *speech: other* | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is a** | would | that | a pleasanter mode |  |  |  | of proceeding | tree rules |

<!-- .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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