---
title: He was thus rather better off than when he had been an unpaid clerk;… — Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat · tree and pragmatics
description: He was thus rather better off than when he had been an unpaid clerk; but he knew that when the novelty wore off, he would get no more customers. Who acts: last, novelty. A sentence of «Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat» by C. A. Kincaid, The Wisdom Seller., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat, The Wisdom Seller., sentence 32

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He was thus rather better off than when he had been an unpaid clerk; but he knew that when the novelty wore off, he would get no more customers.

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**Who acts:** last, novelty · **What happens:** be, know, wear off, get · **To what, where:** more customers

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat» by C. A. Kincaid, The Wisdom Seller.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (last, novelty), 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:pg76982:17:32
# text = He was thus rather better off than when he had been an unpaid clerk; but he knew that when the novelty wore off, he would get no more customers.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
6	off	off	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	than	than	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
11	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	cop	_	_
12	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	unpaid	unpaid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	clerk	clerk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	23	advmod	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	novelty	novelty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	wore	wear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
24	off	off	ADP	RP	_	23	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
29	no	no	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	31	amod	_	_
31	customers	customer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | last |  |  |  |  | good, thus *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past · perfect | last |  |  |  |  | than a unpaid clerk | tree rules |
| 3 | **know** | past | last |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **wear off** | past | the novelty |  |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **get** | would | last | more customers |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer customer=Stimulus |

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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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