---
title: He cannot refuse your request, and you must take the opportunity of… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: He cannot refuse your request, and you must take the opportunity of stabbing him or cutting off his head whilst he is lying on his face before you. Who acts: Ogre, you, opportunity, your. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Prince and the Ogre’s Cast
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Prince and the Ogre’s Castle., sentence 88

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He cannot refuse your request, and you must take the opportunity of stabbing him or cutting off his head whilst he is lying on his face before you.

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**Who acts:** Ogre, you, opportunity, your · **What happens:** not refuse, take, stab, cut off, lie, request · **To what, where:** request, opportunity, Ogre, head, face

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Prince and the Ogre’s Castle.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ogre, you, opportunity, your), 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:pg75000:17:88
# text = He cannot refuse your request, and you must take the opportunity of stabbing him or cutting off his head whilst he is lying on his face before you.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	refuse	refuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	request	request	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	opportunity	opportunity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
15	stabbing	stab	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	acl	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	cutting	cut	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	conj	_	_
19	off	off	ADP	RP	_	18	compound:prt	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
22	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
29	before	before	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **refuse** | can | Ogre | your request |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent request=Theme |
| 2 | **take** | must | you | the opportunity |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent opportunity=Theme |
| 3 | **stab** | gerund | the opportunity *not said here* | Ogre |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 4 | **cut off** | gerund | the opportunity *not said here* | Ogre's head |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=Eventuality |
| 5 | **lie** | present · progressive | Ogre |  |  | Ogre's face | before you |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on face=Location |
| 6 | **request** |  | your |  |  |  |  |  | nom request «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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