---
title: But such obstacles as these were nothing to me, and I had no difficu… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: But such obstacles as these were nothing to me, and I had no difficulty in evading the watchers and abstracting the eggs from under the hen, without even disturbing her, or her being aware of the loss. Who acts: such obstacles, I, difficulty. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederic
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Three Thieves., sentence 21

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But such obstacles as these were nothing to me, and I had no difficulty in evading the watchers and abstracting the eggs from under the hen, without even disturbing her, or her being aware of the loss.

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**Who acts:** such obstacles, I, difficulty · **What happens:** be, have, evade, abstract, disturb · **To what, where:** nothing, me, difficulty, watchers, eggs, China

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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 (such obstacles, I, difficulty), 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:pg75000:15:21
# text = But such obstacles as these were nothing to me, and I had no difficulty in evading the watchers and abstracting the eggs from under the hen, without even disturbing her, or her being aware of the loss.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
2	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	obstacles	obstacle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
4	as	as	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	3	nmod	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
14	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	15	det	_	_
15	difficulty	difficulty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
17	evading	evade	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	acl	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	watchers	watcher	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	abstracting	abstract	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	conj	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	_
24	from	from	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	under	under	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	hen	hen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
30	even	even	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	disturbing	disturb	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	conj	_	_
32	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
35	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
36	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	37	cop	_	_
37	aware	aware	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	conj	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	loss	loss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | such obstacles as these | nothing | me |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past | I | no difficulty |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent difficulty=Patient |
| 3 | **evade** | gerund | no difficulty *not said here* | the watchers |  |  |  |  | vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent watcher=Location |
| 4 | **abstract** | gerund | no difficulty *not said here* | the eggs |  |  |  | from the hen | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent egg=Theme from hen=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **disturb** | gerund | no difficulty *not said here* | China |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus she=Experiencer |
| 6 | **is** | gerund | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of the loss; China *nmod:poss*; aware *property* | 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:** «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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