---
title: Now this was a regular trick of the Landlord’s, who had a tame cat w… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: Now this was a regular trick of the Landlord’s, who had a tame cat which had been taught to carry in a lantern in her mouth every evening just at dusk, and he was accustomed to practise this deceit upon unwary travellers, and by this means to secure their goods and whatever property they possessed. 
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Foolish Young Mussulman., sentence 105

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Now this was a regular trick of the Landlord’s, who had a tame cat which had been taught to carry in a lantern in her mouth every evening just at dusk, and he was accustomed to practise this deceit upon unwary travellers, and by this means to secure their goods and whatever property they possessed.

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**Who acts:** this, regular trick, tame cat, goods · **What happens:** be, have, teach, carry, accustom, practise · **To what, where:** regular trick, tame cat, lantern, cat, deceit, goods

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Story of the Foolish Young Mussulman.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (this, regular trick, tame cat, goods), 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:pg75000:7:105
# text = Now this was a regular trick of the Landlord’s, who had a tame cat which had been taught to carry in a lantern in her mouth every evening just at dusk, and he was accustomed to practise this deceit upon unwary travellers, and by this means to secure their goods and whatever property they possessed.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	regular	regular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	trick	trick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Landlord	Landlord	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	’s	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
13	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	tame	tame	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	taught	teach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl:relcl	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	lantern	lantern	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
29	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	30	det	_	_
30	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl:unmarked	_	_
31	just	just	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
32	at	at	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	dusk	dusk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux:pass	_	_
38	accustomed	accustom	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	conj	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	practise	practise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	xcomp	_	_
41	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	42	det	_	_
42	deceit	deceit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
43	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	unwary	unwary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	travellers	traveller	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
48	by	by	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	50	nsubj	_	_
50	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
51	to	to	PART	TO	_	52	mark	_	_
52	secure	secure	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	xcomp	_	_
53	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	goods	goods	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	52	obj	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
56	whatever	whatever	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	57	det	_	_
57	property	property	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	conj	_	_
58	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	nsubj	_	_
59	possessed	possess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	57	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | this | a regular trick |  |  | now | of the Landlord | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past | a regular trick | a tame cat |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cat=Patient |
| 3 | **teach** *speech: other* | past · perfect · passive |  | a tame cat |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **carry** | to-infinitive | a tame cat *not said here* |  |  | a lantern | dusk; evening | in Landlord's mouth | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in lantern=Location |
| 5 | **accustom** | past · passive |  | cat |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **practise** | to-infinitive |  | this deceit |  |  |  | upon unwary travellers | tree rules |
| 7 | **mean** | present | this |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **secure** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | this *not said here* | travellers's goods |  |  |  | whatever property *conj* | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition goods=Theme |
| 9 | **possess** | past | goods | whatever property *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot property=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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