--- title: He made several awkward attempts to climb the tree, but the stem was… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics description: He made several awkward attempts to climb the tree, but the stem was so straight and so smooth that he was quite unable to succeed; and he was just about to give up the attempt in despair when he espied a large Monkey sitting among the branches. Who acts: Tortoise, stem, large Monkey. A sentence of --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/21/4/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Folk tales from Tibet](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/) / [The Story of the Tortoise and the Monk…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/21/) / 4 # Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Tortoise and the Monkey., sentence 4 He made several awkward attempts to climb the tree, but the stem was so straight and so smooth that he was quite unable to succeed; and he was just about to give up the attempt in despair when he espied a large Monkey sitting among the branches. **Who acts:** Tortoise, stem, large Monkey · **What happens:** make, climb, be, succeed, espy, sit · **To what, where:** several awkward attempts, tree, large Monkey, branches 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 (Tortoise, stem, large Monkey), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg75000:21:4 # text = He made several awkward attempts to climb the tree, but the stem was so straight and so smooth that he was quite unable to succeed; and he was just about to give up the attempt in despair when he espied a large Monkey sitting among the branches. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 made make VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 several several ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 4 awkward awkward ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 attempts attempt NOUN NNS Number=Plur 2 obj _ _ 6 to to PART TO _ 7 mark _ _ 7 climb climb VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 advcl _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 tree tree NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 11 but but CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 stem stem NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nsubj _ _ 14 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 cop _ _ 15 so so ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ _ 16 straight straight ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 18 so so ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 19 smooth smooth ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 2 parataxis _ _ 20 that that SCONJ IN _ 24 mark _ _ 21 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 22 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 cop _ _ 23 quite quite ADV RB _ 24 advmod _ _ 24 unable unable ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 19 advcl _ _ 25 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 26 succeed succeed VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 27 ; ; PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 29 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 30 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 cop _ _ 31 just just ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 32 about about ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ _ 33 to to PART TO _ 34 mark _ _ 34 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 parataxis _ _ 35 up up ADP RP _ 34 compound:prt _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 attempt attempt NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obj _ _ 38 in in ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 39 despair despair NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 nmod _ _ 40 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 42 advmod _ _ 41 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 nsubj _ _ 42 espied espy VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 37 acl:relcl _ _ 43 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 44 large large ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ _ 45 Monkey monkey NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obj _ _ 46 sitting sit VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 45 acl _ _ 47 among among ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 48 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 49 branches branch NOUN NNS Number=Plur 46 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 50 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **make** | past | Tortoise | several awkward attempts | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent attempt=Product | | 2 | **climb** | to-infinitive | Tortoise *not said here* | the tree | | | | | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location tree=Theme | | 3 | **is** | past | the stem | | | | | smooth, straight *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **is** | past | Tortoise | | | | | unable *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **succeed** | to-infinitive | Tortoise *not said here* | | | | | | vn succeed-74-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **is** | past | Tortoise | | | | | the attempt *obj*; about, give *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **espy** | past | Tortoise | a large Monkey | | | | | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer monkey=Stimulus | | 8 | **sit** | gerund | a large Monkey *not said here* | | | the branches | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent among branch=Location | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/21/3/) - next →: [sentence 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/21/5/) - ↑ back to [The Story of the Tortoise and the Monkey.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/21/)