---
title: Before meeting the Brahman boy he would have run away; for stupid th… — Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat · tree and pragmatics
description: Before meeting the Brahman boy he would have run away; for stupid though he was, he knew it was unsafe to stand and watch a fight especially between the two queens’ maid-servants. Who acts: boy, it. A sentence of «Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat» by C. A. Kincaid, The Wisdom Seller., with its depende
---

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# Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat, The Wisdom Seller., sentence 73

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Before meeting the Brahman boy he would have run away; for stupid though he was, he knew it was unsafe to stand and watch a fight especially between the two queens’ maid-servants.

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**Who acts:** boy, it · **What happens:** meet, run away, be, know, stand, watch · **To what, where:** Brahman boy, fight · **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, it), 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:pg76982:17:73
# text = Before meeting the Brahman boy he would have run away; for stupid though he was, he knew it was unsafe to stand and watch a fight especially between the two queens’ maid-servants.
1	Before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	meeting	meet	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	Brahman	Brahman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	aux	_	_
9	run	run	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	acl:relcl	_	_
10	away	away	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	stupid	stupid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
14	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
22	unsafe	unsafe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	ccomp	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	watch	watch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	conj	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	fight	fight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	especially	especially	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
30	between	between	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	33	nummod	_	_
33	queens	queen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	’	's	PART	POS	_	33	case	_	_
35	maid	maid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **meet** | gerund | boy *not said here* | the Brahman boy |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boy=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **run away** | would · perfect | boy | the Brahman boy *not said here* |  |  |  | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boy=Agent |
| 3 | **be** | past | boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **know** | past | boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | unsafe *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **stand** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **watch** | infinitive |  | a fight |  |  |  | between the two queens's maid servants | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fight=Theme |

<!-- .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 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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