---
title: Going to the house he asked what was the matter, and on hearing the… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: Going to the house he asked what was the matter, and on hearing the cause of their sorrow he at once announced that he was possessed of very wonderful magic powers, and was prepared to effect a cure. Who acts: Boy, torments. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'C
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, How He Dislodged the Spider., sentence 30

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Going to the house he asked what was the matter, and on hearing the cause of their sorrow he at once announced that he was possessed of very wonderful magic powers, and was prepared to effect a cure.

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**Who acts:** Boy, torments · **What happens:** go, ask, be, hear, announce, possess · **To what, where:** house, matter, cause, Boy, effect, sorrow · **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 Dislodged the Spider.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Boy, torments), 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:pg75000:24:30
# text = Going to the house he asked what was the matter, and on hearing the cause of their sorrow he at once announced that he was possessed of very wonderful magic powers, and was prepared to effect a cure.
1	Going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
2	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	10	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
13	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
14	hearing	hear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	sorrow	sorrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	23	obl	_	_
23	announced	announce	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux:pass	_	_
27	possessed	possess	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	ccomp	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
29	very	very	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	wonderful	wonderful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
31	magic	magic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	powers	power	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux:pass	_	_
36	prepared	prepare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	effect	effect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	xcomp	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	cure	cure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | gerund | Boy *not said here* |  |  | the house |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to house=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | past |  | the matter |  |  |  | what *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **hear** | gerund | Boy *not said here* | the cause of torments's sorrow |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer cause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **announce** *speech: other* | past | Boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn order-58.3 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **possess** | past · passive |  | Boy |  |  |  | of wonderful magic powers | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 7 | **prepare** | past · passive |  | effect |  |  |  | a cure *obj* | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: cure=Patient |
| 8 | **cause** |  |  | torments's sorrow |  |  |  |  | nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient |
| 9 | **sorrow** |  | torments *= torment* |  |  |  |  |  | nom sorrow «feeling intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .note -->
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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