---
title: After the lapse of an hour or two the Servant returned to the Lama i… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: After the lapse of an hour or two the Servant returned to the Lama in the upper room and informed him that the sheep had died a natural death while he had been away seeking for its owner, and, in the circumstances, he supposed that they might as well cut it up and cook it for food. Who acts: Servant
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Lama’s Servant., sentence 21

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After the lapse of an hour or two the Servant returned to the Lama in the upper room and informed him that the sheep had died a natural death while he had been away seeking for its owner, and, in the circumstances, he supposed that they might as well cut it up and cook it for food.

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**Who acts:** Servant, sheep, Lama, hour · **What happens:** return, inform, die, seek, suppose, cut up · **To what, where:** upper room, Lama, natural death, circumstances, room · **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 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 (Servant, sheep, Lama, hour), 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:pg75000:19:21
# text = After the lapse of an hour or two the Servant returned to the Lama in the upper room and informed him that the sheep had died a natural death while he had been away seeking for its owner, and, in the circumstances, he supposed that they might as well cut it up and cook it for food.
1	After	after	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	lapse	lapse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	hour	hour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	conj	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Servant	Servant	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Lama	Lama	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	upper	upper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	informed	inform	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	iobj	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	died	die	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	20	ccomp	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	natural	natural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
30	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
32	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
33	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	35	aux	_	_
34	away	away	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	seeking	seek	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	advcl	_	_
36	for	for	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	owner	owner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
42	in	in	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
46	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	supposed	suppose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
48	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
49	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
50	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
51	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	53	cc	_	_
52	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	51	fixed	_	_
53	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	xcomp	_	_
54	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	obj	_	_
55	up	up	ADP	RP	_	53	compound:prt	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
57	cook	cook	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	conj	_	_
58	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	obj	_	_
59	for	for	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **return** | past | the Servant |  |  | the upper room | after the lapse of a hour | to the Lama *result* | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to lama=Result |
| 2 | **inform** *speech: other* | past | the Servant *not said here* |  | Lama |  |  |  | vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **die** | past · perfect | the sheep | a natural death |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **seek** | past · perfect · progressive | Lama |  |  |  |  | for room's owner; away *property* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent for owner=Theme |
| 5 | **suppose** | past | Lama |  |  | the circumstances |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 6 | **cut up** | might | sheep | room |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset it=Product |
| 7 | **cook** | infinitive | sheep *not said here* | room |  |  |  | for food | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent it=Material for food=Beneficiary |
| 8 | **lapse** |  | a hour |  |  |  |  |  | nom lapse «act intransitive»: of=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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