---
title: He could not stand this very long, so finally, screwing up his coura… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: He could not stand this very long, so finally, screwing up his courage, he went to the back door of the house, and asked one of the servants to lend him a knife, saying that he wanted it to cut up the dry meat which formed his breakfast. Who acts: slank, one, knife, dry meat. A sentence of «Folk tal
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, How He Found the Lost Turquoise., sentence 35

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He could not stand this very long, so finally, screwing up his courage, he went to the back door of the house, and asked one of the servants to lend him a knife, saying that he wanted it to cut up the dry meat which formed his breakfast.

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**Who acts:** slank, one, knife, dry meat · **What happens:** not stand, screw up, go, ask, lend, say · **To what, where:** this, courage, back door, one, knife, slank · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, How He Found the Lost Turquoise.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (slank, one, knife, dry meat), 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:pg75000:23:35
# text = He could not stand this very long, so finally, screwing up his courage, he went to the back door of the house, and asked one of the servants to lend him a knife, saying that he wanted it to cut up the dry meat which formed his breakfast.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	obj	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	finally	finally	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	screwing	screw	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
13	up	up	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	courage	courage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	back	back	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
29	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	28	obj	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	lend	lend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
39	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	28	advcl	_	_
40	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
41	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
42	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	ccomp	_	_
43	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	obj	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	45	mark	_	_
45	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	xcomp	_	_
46	up	up	ADP	RP	_	45	compound:prt	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	_
50	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	51	nsubj	_	_
51	formed	form	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	acl:relcl	_	_
52	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	53	nmod:poss	_	_
53	breakfast	breakfast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **stand** | could | slank | this |  |  |  | long *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus |
| 2 | **screw up** | gerund | slank *not said here* | slank's courage |  |  |  | finally *property* | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent courage=Patient |
| 3 | **go** | past | slank |  |  | the back door of the house |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to door=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | slank *not said here* | one of the servants |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent one=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **lend** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | one of the servants *not said here* | a knife | slank |  |  |  | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient knife=Theme |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | slank *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 7 | **want** | past | slank | knife |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **cut up** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | knife *not said here* | the dry meat |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset meat=Product |
| 9 | **form** | past | the dry meat | slank's breakfast |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location breakfast=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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