---
title: It chanced, however, that the shepherd boy who was in charge of the… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: It chanced, however, that the shepherd boy who was in charge of the sheep had come to the Lama’s house looking for the one which was lost, and peeping in through the window had seen all that had happened. Who acts: fill, shepherd boy, house, peeping. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William 
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Lama’s Servant., sentence 23

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It chanced, however, that the shepherd boy who was in charge of the sheep had come to the Lama’s house looking for the one which was lost, and peeping in through the window had seen all that had happened.

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**Who acts:** fill, shepherd boy, house, peeping, that · **What happens:** chance, be, come, look, lose, peep · **To what, where:** charge, house, one · **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 (fill, shepherd boy, house, peeping), 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:pg75000:19:23
# text = It chanced, however, that the shepherd boy who was in charge of the sheep had come to the Lama’s house looking for the one which was lost, and peeping in through the window had seen all that had happened.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	chanced	chance	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	however	however	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	shepherd	shepherd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
10	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	charge	charge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	acl:relcl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	parataxis	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	Lama	Lama	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	’s	's	PART	POS	_	21	case	_	_
23	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
24	looking	look	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	23	acl	_	_
25	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
28	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	30	nsubj:pass	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux:pass	_	_
30	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
33	peeping	peep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	39	csubj:pass	_	_
34	in	in	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
35	through	through	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
38	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
40	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	43	det:predet	_	_
41	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	43	nsubj	_	_
42	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	39	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chance** | past | fill |  |  |  |  | however *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | the shepherd boy |  |  | charge |  | of the sheep | tree rules |
| 3 | **come** | past · perfect | the shepherd boy |  |  | the Lama's house |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to house=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **look** | gerund | the Lama's house *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for the one | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for one=Theme |
| 5 | **lose** | past · passive |  | the one |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 6 | **peep** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | through the window | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent through window=Theme |
| 7 | **see** | past · perfect | peeping |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 8 | **happen** | past · perfect | that |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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