--- title: While they were in high debate, the commander-in-chief heard a noise… — Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat · tree and pragmatics description: While they were in high debate, the commander-in-chief heard a noise in the courtyard and guessing its cause, said with a smile and a shrug of his shoulders: “I am afraid we are too late, gentlemen. Who acts: nobles, chief, we, shoulders. A sentence of «Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat» by C. A. Kinca --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76982/10/279/) [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 of Sind and Guzarat](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76982/) / [Makhdum Niamat Ullah and Makhdum Nuh.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76982/10/) / 279 # Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat, Makhdum Niamat Ullah and Makhdum Nuh., sentence 279 While they were in high debate, the commander-in-chief heard a noise in the courtyard and guessing its cause, said with a smile and a shrug of his shoulders: “I am afraid we are too late, gentlemen. **Who acts:** nobles, chief, we, shoulders · **What happens:** be, hear, guess, say, cause, shrug · **To what, where:** high debate, noise, courtyard, cause · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat» by C. A. Kincaid, Makhdum Niamat Ullah and Makhdum Nuh.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (nobles, chief, we, shoulders), 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:pg76982:10:279 # text = While they were in high debate, the commander-in-chief heard a noise in the courtyard and guessing its cause, said with a smile and a shrug of his shoulders: “I am afraid we are too late, gentlemen. 1 While while SCONJ IN _ 6 mark _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 3 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 4 in in ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 high high ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 debate debate NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 9 commander commander NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 13 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 11 in in ADP IN _ 13 case _ SpaceAfter=No 12 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 chief chief NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nsubj _ _ 14 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 15 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 noise noise NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obj _ _ 17 in in ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 courtyard courtyard NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ _ 20 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 21 guessing guess VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 19 conj _ _ 22 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 23 nmod:poss _ _ 23 cause cause NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 25 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 conj _ _ 26 with with ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 smile smile NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obl _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 30 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 shrug shrug NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 conj _ _ 32 of of ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 34 nmod:poss _ _ 34 shoulders shoulder NOUN NNS Number=Plur 31 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 35 : : PUNCT : _ 39 punct _ _ 36 “ " PUNCT `` _ 39 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 37 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 38 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 39 cop _ _ 39 afraid afraid ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 parataxis _ _ 40 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 41 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 43 cop _ _ 42 too too ADV RB _ 43 advmod _ _ 43 late late ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 45 gentlemen gentleman NOUN NNS Number=Plur 39 vocative _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 14 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | nobles *= noble* | | | high debate | | | tree rules | | 2 | **hear** | past | the chief commander | a noise | | the courtyard | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer noise=Stimulus | | 3 | **guess** | gerund | the chief commander *not said here* | chief's cause | | | | | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Theme | | 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the chief commander *not said here* | | | | | with a smile and a shrug of commander's shoulders | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the chief commander *= chief* | | | | | gentlemen *vocative*; afraid *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **is** *in a quote* | present | we | | | | | late *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **cause** | | chief | | | | | | nom cause «event transitive»: poss=agent | | 8 | **shrug** | | commander's shoulders | | | | | | nom shrug «communication intransitive»: of=agent | 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 of Sind and Guzarat» by C. A. Kincaid, Project Gutenberg book 76982 (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 278](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76982/10/278/) - next →: [sentence 280](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76982/10/280/) - ↑ back to [Makhdum Niamat Ullah and Makhdum Nuh.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg76982/10/)