---
title: But to his horror the stone, instead of being hard, gave way, and a… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: But to his horror the stone, instead of being hard, gave way, and a muffled groan issued from it; and on examining the spot, he found that instead of striking a stone, he had delivered a violent blow upon the grey head of his Bride’s father, who, overcome by his potations during the wedding feast, h
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Foolish Young Mussulman., sentence 78

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But to his horror the stone, instead of being hard, gave way, and a muffled groan issued from it; and on examining the spot, he found that instead of striking a stone, he had delivered a violent blow upon the grey head of his Bride’s father, who, overcome by his potations during the wedding feast, had fallen asleep at the foot of the stairs.

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**Who acts:** fellow, father · **What happens:** be, give, muffle, issue, examine, find · **To what, where:** way, muffled groan, stone, spot, violent blow, foot · **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 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 (fellow, father), 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:pg75000:7:78
# text = But to his horror the stone, instead of being hard, gave way, and a muffled groan issued from it; and on examining the spot, he found that instead of striking a stone, he had delivered a violent blow upon the grey head of his Bride’s father, who, overcome by his potations during the wedding feast, had fallen asleep at the foot of the stairs.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	horror	horror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	11	case	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	fixed	_	_
10	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	cop	_	_
11	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
14	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	muffled	muffle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	amod	_	_
19	groan	groan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
20	issued	issue	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	conj	_	_
21	from	from	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
25	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
26	examining	examine	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	advcl	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
33	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=SCONJ	35	mark	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	fixed	_	_
35	striking	strike	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	41	advcl	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
40	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	delivered	deliver	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	31	ccomp	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	violent	violent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
45	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
47	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nmod	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
50	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
51	Bride	bride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	’s	's	PART	POS	_	51	case	_	_
53	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
55	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	57	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
57	overcome	overcome	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	53	acl:relcl	_	_
58	by	by	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
59	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	60	nmod:poss	_	_
60	potations	potation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	57	obl	_	_
61	during	during	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
62	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
63	wedding	wedding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	compound	_	_
64	feast	feast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	67	punct	_	_
66	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	67	aux	_	_
67	fallen	fall	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	31	conj	_	_
68	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	67	xcomp	_	_
69	at	at	ADP	IN	_	71	case	_	_
70	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	71	det	_	_
71	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	67	obl	_	_
72	of	of	ADP	IN	_	74	case	_	_
73	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	74	det	_	_
74	stairs	stair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	71	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **give** | past |  | way |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Theme |
| 3 | **muffle** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **issue** | participle · passive |  | a muffled groan |  | stone |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **examine** | gerund | fellow *not said here* | the spot |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spot=Theme |
| 6 | **find** | past | fellow |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 7 | **strike** | gerund | fellow *not said here* | a stone |  |  |  |  | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stone=Patient |
| 8 | **deliver** | past · perfect | fellow | a violent blow |  |  |  | upon the grey head of fellow's Bride's father | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent blow=Patient |
| 9 | **overcome** | participle | fellow's Bride's father |  |  |  | during the wedding feast | by fellow's potations | vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 10 | **fall** | past · perfect | fellow *not said here* |  |  | the foot of the stairs |  | asleep *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at foot=Location |

<!-- .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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