--- title: He could not make out what the shadow was, but thought it must be so… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics description: He could not make out what the shadow was, but thought it must be some ghost or demon, which wanted to do him an injury, so he urged his horse into a gallop, in order to try and get away from it. Who acts: Boy, shadow, ghost. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O' --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/7/50/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Folk tales from Tibet](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/) / [The Story of the Foolish Young Mussulm…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/7/) / 50 # Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Foolish Young Mussulman., sentence 50 He could not make out what the shadow was, but thought it must be some ghost or demon, which wanted to do him an injury, so he urged his horse into a gallop, in order to try and get away from it. **Who acts:** Boy, shadow, ghost · **What happens:** not make out, think, be, want, do, urge · **To what, where:** ghost, Boy, horse, gallop, shadow · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (Boy, shadow, ghost), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg75000:7:50 # text = He could not make out what the shadow was, but thought it must be some ghost or demon, which wanted to do him an injury, so he urged his horse into a gallop, in order to try and get away from it. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 3 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 4 advmod _ _ 4 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 5 out out ADP RP _ 4 compound:prt _ _ 6 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 4 obj _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 shadow shadow NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nsubj _ _ 9 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 11 but but CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 12 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 13 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 14 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 17 aux _ _ 15 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 17 cop _ _ 16 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 17 det _ _ 17 ghost ghost NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 ccomp _ _ 18 or or CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 19 demon demon NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 21 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 22 nsubj _ _ 22 wanted want VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 parataxis _ _ 23 to to PART TO _ 24 mark _ _ 24 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 22 xcomp _ _ 25 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 obj _ _ 26 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 injury injury NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 29 so so ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 30 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 31 urged urge VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 32 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 33 nmod:poss _ _ 33 horse horse NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obj _ _ 34 into into ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 35 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 gallop gallop NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 38 in in SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 41 mark _ _ 39 order order NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 fixed _ _ 40 to to PART TO _ 41 mark _ _ 41 try try VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 43 get get VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 41 conj _ _ 44 away away ADV RB _ 43 advmod _ _ 45 from from ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 46 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **make out** | could | Boy | | | | | what *obj* | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus | | 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Boy *not said here* | | | | | | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **is a** | must | shadow | some ghost or demon | | | | demon *conj* | tree rules | | 4 | **want** | past | some ghost or demon | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 5 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | some ghost or demon *not said here* | Boy | | | | a injury *obj* | tree rules | | 6 | **urge** | past | Boy | | Boy's horse | a gallop | | | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horse=Recipient | | 7 | **try** | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | | 8 | **get away** | infinitive | | | | shadow | | away *property* | vn withdraw-82-2 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Agent from it=Source | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 49](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/7/49/) - next →: [sentence 51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/7/51/) - ↑ back to [The Story of the Foolish Young Mussulman.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/7/)