---
title: I am told that he is but a defenceless creature, that his strength c… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: I am told that he is but a defenceless creature, that his strength cannot be compared to mine, and that his claws and teeth are quite contemptible. Who acts: neighbourhood, claws. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Story of the Tiger and the Man., w
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Tiger and the Man., sentence 13

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I am told that he is but a defenceless creature, that his strength cannot be compared to mine, and that his claws and teeth are quite contemptible.

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**Who acts:** neighbourhood, claws · **What happens:** tell, be, not compare · **To what, where:** I, defenceless creature, strength, mine · **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 Tiger and the Man.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (neighbourhood, claws), 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:pg75000:3:13
# text = I am told that he is but a defenceless creature, that his strength cannot be compared to mine, and that his claws and teeth are quite contemptible.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	defenceless	defenceless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	compared	compare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	mine	my	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nsubj	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	conj	_	_
28	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
29	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	contemptible	contemptible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | I |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 2 | **is a** | present | neighbourhood | a defenceless creature |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **compare** | can · passive |  | neighbourhood's strength | mine |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 4 | **is** | present | neighbourhood's claws and teeth |  |  |  |  | contemptible *property* | tree rules |

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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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