---
title: The old Lama, who never refused a reasonable request, at once procee… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: The old Lama, who never refused a reasonable request, at once proceeded to do as he was asked, and, rising from his seat, he followed the Servant into the next room. Who acts: old Lama, Lama. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Story of the Lama’s Se
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Lama’s Servant., sentence 16

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The old Lama, who never refused a reasonable request, at once proceeded to do as he was asked, and, rising from his seat, he followed the Servant into the next room.

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**Who acts:** old Lama, Lama · **What happens:** not refuse, proceed, do, ask, rise, follow · **To what, where:** reasonable request, Lama, seat, Servant, next room

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Story of the Lama’s Servant.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old Lama, Lama), 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:pg75000:19:16
# text = The old Lama, who never refused a reasonable request, at once proceeded to do as he was asked, and, rising from his seat, he followed the Servant into the next room.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	Lama	Lama	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
6	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	refused	refuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	reasonable	reasonable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	request	request	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	at	at	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	14	advmod	_	_
14	proceeded	proceed	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	asked	ask	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	rising	rise	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	30	advcl	_	_
25	from	from	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	seat	seat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	followed	follow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	Servant	Servant	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	into	into	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **refuse** | past | the old Lama | a reasonable request |  |  |  | who *nsubj* | vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent request=Theme |
| 2 | **proceed** | past |  |  |  |  |  | once *property* | vn begin-55.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **do** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past · passive |  | Lama |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 5 | **rise** | gerund | Lama *not said here* |  |  | Lama's seat |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from seat=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **follow** | past | Lama | the Servant |  | the next room |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent servant=Theme into room=Trajectory |

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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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