---
title: “Yes,” said the second Thief; “I am able to cut the soles off a man’… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: “Yes,” said the second Thief; “I am able to cut the soles off a man’s boots as he walks across the road without his being aware of what has happened. Who acts: second Thief, line. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Story of the Three Thieves., with 
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Three Thieves., sentence 11

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“Yes,” said the second Thief; “I am able to cut the soles off a man’s boots as he walks across the road without his being aware of what has happened.

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**Who acts:** second Thief, line · **What happens:** say, be, cut, walk, happen · **To what, where:** soles, road · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Story of the Three Thieves.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (second Thief, line), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg75000:15:11
# text = “Yes,” said the second Thief; “I am able to cut the soles off a man’s boots as he walks across the road without his being aware of what has happened.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	amod	_	_
8	Thief	thief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	ccomp	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	soles	sole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
18	off	off	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	’s	's	PART	POS	_	20	case	_	_
22	boots	boot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
23	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	walks	walk	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
26	across	across	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
29	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
31	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	32	cop	_	_
32	aware	aware	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	advcl	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	32	obl	_	_
35	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	34	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the second Thief |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the second Thief *= thief* |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **cut** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the second Thief *= thief* *not said here* | the soles |  |  |  | off a man's boots | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent sole=Patient off boot=Co-Patient |
| 4 | **walk** *in a quote* | present | line |  |  | the road |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme across road=Trajectory |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | gerund | line *not said here* |  |  |  |  | line *nmod:poss*; what *obl*; aware *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **happen** *in a quote* | present · perfect |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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:** «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, Project Gutenberg book 75000 (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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