---
title: “I have come to ask you,” went on the Thief, “whether or no I am you… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: “I have come to ask you,” went on the Thief, “whether or no I am your long-lost son.” Who acts: father. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Story of the Lama’s Servant., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Lama’s Servant., sentence 54

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“I have come to ask you,” went on the Thief, “whether or no I am your long-lost son.”

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**Who acts:** father · **What happens:** come, ask, go, lose, be · **To what, where:** you, Thief, long lost son · **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 (father), 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:pg75000:19:54
# text = “I have come to ask you,” went on the Thief, “whether or no I am your long-lost son.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	parataxis	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
10	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Thief	thief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
15	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	25	mark	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	16	fixed	_	_
18	no	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	16	discourse	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
20	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
21	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
22	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	amod	_	_
25	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** *in a quote* | present · perfect | father |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | to-infinitive | father *not said here* |  | you |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient |
| 3 | **go** | past |  |  |  | the Thief |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **lose** *in a quote* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | father | your long lost son |  |  |  | your *nmod:poss* | tree rules |

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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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