---
title: There was once an old Tortoise who lived with his wife and family in… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: There was once an old Tortoise who lived with his wife and family in a large lake, on the borders of which grew an extensive jungle; and in the forest there were many wild beasts, more especially Monkeys, who swarmed in great numbers all along the shores of the lake. Who acts: old Tortoise, borders,
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Tortoise and the Monkey., sentence 1

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There was once an old Tortoise who lived with his wife and family in a large lake, on the borders of which grew an extensive jungle; and in the forest there were many wild beasts, more especially Monkeys, who swarmed in great numbers all along the shores of the lake.

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**Who acts:** old Tortoise, borders, many wild beasts · **What happens:** be, live, grow, swarm · **To what, where:** large lake, extensive jungle, great numbers

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Story of the Tortoise and the Monkey.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old Tortoise, borders, many wild beasts), 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:pg75000:21:1
# text = There was once an old Tortoise who lived with his wife and family in a large lake, on the borders of which grew an extensive jungle; and in the forest there were many wild beasts, more especially Monkeys, who swarmed in great numbers all along the shores of the lake.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	2	advmod	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	Tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	on	on	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	borders	border	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	24	nsubj	_	_
24	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
25	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	extensive	extensive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	jungle	jungle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
33	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	34	expl	_	_
34	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	acl:relcl	_	_
35	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
36	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	beasts	beast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	40	advmod	_	_
40	especially	especially	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
41	Monkeys	monkey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	44	nsubj	_	_
44	swarmed	swarm	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	acl:relcl	_	_
45	in	in	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	numbers	number	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	obl	_	_
48	all	all	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
49	along	along	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	shores	shore	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nmod	_	_
52	of	of	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a old Tortoise |  |  | there |  | the forest *nsubj*; once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **live** | past | a old Tortoise |  |  | a large lake |  | with Tortoise's wife and family; on the borders | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme with wife=Location |
| 3 | **grow** | past | the borders | a extensive jungle |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location jungle=Theme |
| 4 | **swarm** | past | many wild beasts and Monkeys |  |  | great numbers along the shores of the lake |  |  | vn swarm-47.5.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in number=Location |

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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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