---
title: He had never been away from home for so long before, so finally she… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: He had never been away from home for so long before, so finally she despatched one of the young Tortoises to find out where his father was and how he was getting on. Who acts: Tortoise, friend, father. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Story of the
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Tortoise and the Monkey., sentence 9

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He had never been away from home for so long before, so finally she despatched one of the young Tortoises to find out where his father was and how he was getting on.

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**Who acts:** Tortoise, friend, father · **What happens:** have, not be, despatch, find out, get on · **To what, where:** home, 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 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, friend, 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:pg75000:21:9
# text = He had never been away from home for so long before, so finally she despatched one of the young Tortoises to find out where his father was and how he was getting on.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	cop	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
11	before	before	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
14	finally	finally	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
15	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	despatched	despatch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
17	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	obj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	Tortoises	tortoise	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	advcl	_	_
24	out	out	ADP	RP	_	23	compound:prt	_	_
25	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	33	advmod	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
30	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	33	advmod	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	getting	get	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	ccomp	_	_
34	on	on	ADP	RP	_	33	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Tortoise |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is** | participle |  |  |  | home |  | away *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **despatch** | past | friend | one of the young Tortoises |  |  |  | finally *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **find out** | to-infinitive | friend *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **get on** | past · progressive | Tortoise's father |  |  |  |  | Tortoise *nsubj* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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