---
title: Now as it happened, the Boy was in reality a very bad rider, and did… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: Now as it happened, the Boy was in reality a very bad rider, and did not at all fancy the idea of riding about on a spirited horse, but for very shame he could not refuse the King’s gift. Who acts: it, Boy, idea, King. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor,
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, How He Defeated the Enemy., sentence 4

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Now as it happened, the Boy was in reality a very bad rider, and did not at all fancy the idea of riding about on a spirited horse, but for very shame he could not refuse the King’s gift.

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**Who acts:** it, Boy, idea, King · **What happens:** happen, be, not do, fancy, ride, not refuse · **To what, where:** reality, idea, gift

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, How He Defeated the Enemy.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (it, Boy, idea, King), 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:pg75000:25:4
# text = Now as it happened, the Boy was in reality a very bad rider, and did not at all fancy the idea of riding about on a spirited horse, but for very shame he could not refuse the King’s gift.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Boy	Boy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	reality	reality	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	very	very	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	rider	rider	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
19	at	at	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	21	advmod	_	_
21	fancy	fancy	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
25	riding	ride	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	23	acl	_	_
26	about	about	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
27	on	on	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	spirited	spirited	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
32	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
33	for	for	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	very	very	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	shame	shame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
37	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
38	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	39	advmod	_	_
39	refuse	refuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	43	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	’s	's	PART	POS	_	41	case	_	_
43	gift	gift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | it |  |  |  | now |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | the Boy |  |  | reality |  | a bad rider *appos* | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **do** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **fancy** | present |  | the idea |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer idea=Stimulus |
| 5 | **ride** | gerund | the idea *not said here* |  |  |  |  | on a spirited horse; about *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **not** **refuse** | could | Boy | the King's gift |  |  |  | for shame | vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gift=Theme |
| 7 | **gift** |  | the King |  |  |  |  |  | nom gift «possession transitive»: 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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