---
title: In spite of all these precautions, however, I was able by my skill t… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: In spite of all these precautions, however, I was able by my skill to take the food from each dish as it was placed upon the table, before the Emperor had time to partake of more than a very few mouthfuls. Who acts: I, Emperor. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir 
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Three Thieves., sentence 38

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In spite of all these precautions, however, I was able by my skill to take the food from each dish as it was placed upon the table, before the Emperor had time to partake of more than a very few mouthfuls.

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**Who acts:** I, Emperor · **What happens:** be, take, place, have, partake, spite · **To what, where:** spite, food, dish, table, precautions

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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 (I, Emperor), 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:pg75000:15:38
# text = In spite of all these precautions, however, I was able by my skill to take the food from each dish as it was placed upon the table, before the Emperor had time to partake of more than a very few mouthfuls.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	spite	spite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
5	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	precautions	precaution	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
8	however	however	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
10	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	skill	skill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	from	from	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	22	det	_	_
22	dish	dish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
23	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	advcl	_	_
27	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	Emperor	Emperor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
34	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
35	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	partake	partake	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	acl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	37	obl	_	_
40	than	than	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
42	very	very	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
43	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	mouthfuls	mouthful	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | I |  |  | spite of all precautions |  | by my skill; able, however *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | the food |  | each dish |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent food=Theme from dish=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **place** | past · passive |  | food |  | the table |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme upon table=Destination |
| 4 | **have** | past | the Emperor |  |  |  | time |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **partake** | to-infinitive | the Emperor *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of more than a few mouthfuls | tree rules |
| 6 | **spite** |  |  | all precautions |  |  |  |  | nom spite «feeling 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:** «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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