---
title: Now these two were much cleverer and more cunning than most of the o… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: Now these two were much cleverer and more cunning than most of the others, and after a few days they noticed that the number of Mice in the house seemed to be decreasing very much, in spite of the fact that the Cat had promised not to kill any more. Who acts: two, names, number, Cat. A sentence of «
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Cat and the Mice., sentence 16

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Now these two were much cleverer and more cunning than most of the others, and after a few days they noticed that the number of Mice in the house seemed to be decreasing very much, in spite of the fact that the Cat had promised not to kill any more.

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**Who acts:** two, names, number, Cat · **What happens:** be, notice, seem, decrease, promise, not kill · **To what, where:** spite, fact · **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 Cat and the Mice.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (two, names, number, Cat), 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:pg75000:6:16
# text = Now these two were much cleverer and more cunning than most of the others, and after a few days they noticed that the number of Mice in the house seemed to be decreasing very much, in spite of the fact that the Cat had promised not to kill any more.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
2	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	much	much	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	cleverer	clever	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	9	advmod	_	_
9	cunning	cunning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
10	than	than	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	6	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
17	after	after	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	noticed	notice	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	Mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
31	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	ccomp	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
33	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	aux	_	_
34	decreasing	decrease	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	xcomp	_	_
35	very	very	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	much	much	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
38	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	spite	spite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	_
43	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	Cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
46	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
47	promised	promise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	42	acl	_	_
48	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	50	advmod	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	xcomp	_	_
51	any	any	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	_
52	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	50	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | this two |  |  |  | now | than most of the others; cunning *conj*; clever *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **notice** | past | names *= name* |  |  |  | day |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **seem** | past | the number of Mice in the house |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 4 | **decrease** | to-infinitive · progressive | the number of Mice in the house *not said here* |  |  | spite of the fact |  |  | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **promise** *speech: promise* | past · perfect | the Cat | the fact *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V NP that S»: agent=Agent fact=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **not** **kill** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the Cat *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **spite** |  |  | the fact |  |  |  |  | nom spite «feeling transitive»: of=patient |

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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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