---
title: A descendant of one of the great men of this happy island, becoming… — Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth · tree and pragmatics
description: A descendant of one of the great men of this happy island, becoming a gentleman to so improved a degree as to despise the good qualities which had originally ennobled his family, thought of nothing but how to support and distinguish his dignity by the pride of an ignorant mind, and a disposition aba
---

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# Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth, The Basket Maker., sentence 4

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A descendant of one of the great men of this happy island, becoming a gentleman to so improved a degree as to despise the good qualities which had originally ennobled his family, thought of nothing but how to support and distinguish his dignity by the pride of an ignorant mind, and a disposition abandoned to pleasure.

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**Who acts:** happy island, descendant · **What happens:** become, improve, despise, ennoble, think, support · **To what, where:** gentleman, degree, good qualities, dignity, disposition, ignorant mind

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This is a sentence of «Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth» by Anonymous, The Basket Maker.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (happy island, descendant), 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:pg62868:11:4
# text = A descendant of one of the great men of this happy island, becoming a gentleman to so improved a degree as to despise the good qualities which had originally ennobled his family, thought of nothing but how to support and distinguish his dignity by the pride of an ignorant mind, and a disposition abandoned to pleasure.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	descendant	descendant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nmod	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
11	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	becoming	become	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	acl	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	gentleman	gentleman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	fixed	_	_
18	so	so	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	improved	improve	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	degree	degree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	despise	despise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	qualities	quality	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obj	_	_
28	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
29	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	originally	originally	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	ennobled	ennoble	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	acl:relcl	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
35	thought	think	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	27	acl	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	35	obl	_	_
38	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
39	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	41	advmod	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	support	support	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	conj	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	distinguish	distinguish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	conj	_	_
44	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	dignity	dignity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obj	_	_
46	by	by	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	pride	pride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
50	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
51	ignorant	ignorant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
55	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	disposition	disposition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	parataxis	_	_
57	abandoned	abandon	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	56	acl	_	_
58	to	to	PART	TO	_	59	mark	_	_
59	pleasure	pleasure	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | gerund | this happy island *not said here* | a gentleman |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Patient gentleman=Result |
| 2 | **improve** | past | a descendant of one of the great men of this happy island | a degree |  |  |  | a disposition *parataxis* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent degree=Patient |
| 3 | **despise** | to-infinitive | a descendant of one of the great men of this happy island *not said here* | the good qualities |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer quality=Stimulus |
| 4 | **ennoble** | past · perfect · passive |  | the good qualities |  |  |  | descendant's family *obj*; originally *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **think** *speech: other* | participle |  | the good qualities *not said here* |  |  |  | of nothing | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **support** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **distinguish** | infinitive |  | descendant's dignity |  |  |  | by the pride of a ignorant mind | vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.attribute»: agent=Agent dignity=Theme by pride=Attribute |
| 8 | **abandon** | participle |  | a disposition *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **pleasure** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **pride** |  |  | a ignorant mind |  |  |  |  | nom pride «feeling transitive»: of=patient |

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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:** «Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth» by Anonymous, Project Gutenberg book 62868 (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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