---
title: The boy wrote on a piece of paper “It is not wise to stand and watch… — Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat · tree and pragmatics
description: The boy wrote on a piece of paper “It is not wise to stand and watch two people fighting.” Who acts: boy, two people. A sentence of «Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat» by C. A. Kincaid, The Wisdom Seller., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat, The Wisdom Seller., sentence 46

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The boy wrote on a piece of paper “It is not wise to stand and watch two people fighting.”

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**Who acts:** boy, two people · **What happens:** write, not be, stand, watch, fight · **To what, where:** piece, two people · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (boy, two people), 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:pg76982:17:46
# text = The boy wrote on a piece of paper “It is not wise to stand and watch two people fighting.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wrote	write	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	paper	paper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	expl	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	csubj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	watch	watch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
18	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	nummod	_	_
19	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	fighting	fight	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	19	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | past | the boy |  |  | a piece of paper |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent on piece=Destination |
| 2 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | present | the boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | wise *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **stand** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **watch** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | two people |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Theme |
| 5 | **fight** *in a quote* | gerund | two people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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