---
title: He had a house on the sea-side, where he spent great part of his tim… — Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth · tree and pragmatics
description: He had a house on the sea-side, where he spent great part of his time in hunting and fishing; but found himself at a loss in pursuit of those important diversions, by means of a long slip of marsh land, overgrown with high reeds, that lay between his house and the sea. Who acts: descendant, high ree
---

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# Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth, The Basket Maker., sentence 5

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He had a house on the sea-side, where he spent great part of his time in hunting and fishing; but found himself at a loss in pursuit of those important diversions, by means of a long slip of marsh land, overgrown with high reeds, that lay between his house and the sea.

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**Who acts:** descendant, high reeds, marsh land · **What happens:** have, spend, find, mean, overgrow, lie · **To what, where:** house, sea side, great part, descendant, loss, important diversions

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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 (descendant, high reeds, marsh land), 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:pg62868:11:5
# text = He had a house on the sea-side, where he spent great part of his time in hunting and fishing; but found himself at a loss in pursuit of those important diversions, by means of a long slip of marsh land, overgrown with high reeds, that lay between his house and the sea.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	13	advmod	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	spent	spend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
14	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	fishing	fishing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
26	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	25	obj	_	_
27	at	at	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	loss	loss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	pursuit	pursuit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	35	det	_	_
34	important	important	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	diversions	diversion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	by	by	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	parataxis	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	slip	slip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	marsh	marsh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
47	overgrown	overgrow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	42	conj	_	_
48	with	with	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
50	reeds	reed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
52	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	53	nsubj	_	_
53	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	acl:relcl	_	_
54	between	between	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
56	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	59	cc	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | descendant | a house |  | the sea side |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent house=Patient |
| 2 | **spend** | past | descendant | great part of descendant's time in hunting and fishing |  |  |  |  | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent part=Asset |
| 3 | **find** | past |  | descendant |  | a loss in pursuit of that important diversions |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent himself=Theme at loss=Asset |
| 4 | **mean** | present |  |  |  |  |  | of a long slip of marsh land | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **overgrow** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | with high reeds | tree rules |
| 6 | **lie** | past | high reeds |  |  | descendant's house and the sea |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent between house=Location |
| 7 | **pursue** |  |  | that important diversions |  |  |  |  | nom pursuit «act transitive»: of=patient |
| 8 | **slip** |  | marsh land |  |  |  |  |  | nom slip «act intransitive»: of=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:** «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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