---
title: At first the parrot demurred, then he said: “There is a story going… — Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat · tree and pragmatics
description: At first the parrot demurred, then he said: “There is a story going on before your very eyes. Who acts: parrot, maina, story. A sentence of «Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat» by C. A. Kincaid, The Eighth Key., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat, The Eighth Key., sentence 44

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At first the parrot demurred, then he said: “There is a story going on before your very eyes.

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**Who acts:** parrot, maina, story · **What happens:** demur, say, be, go on · **To what, where:** eyes · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat» by C. A. Kincaid, The Eighth Key.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (parrot, maina, story), 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:pg76982:11:44
# text = At first the parrot demurred, then he said: “There is a story going on before your very eyes.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	5	obl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	parrot	parrot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	demurred	demur	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	9	advmod	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
11	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	13	expl	_	_
13	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
16	going	go	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	acl	_	_
17	on	on	ADP	RP	_	16	compound:prt	_	_
18	before	before	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
20	very	very	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **demur** | participle | the parrot |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | maina |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **be** *in a quote* | present | a story |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **go on** *in a quote* | gerund | a story *not said here* |  |  | your eyes |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme before eye=Location |

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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 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.

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