---
title: On the contrary, the devotion of the selfish, whether it be thought… — Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth · tree and pragmatics
description: On the contrary, the devotion of the selfish, whether it be thought to avert the punishment which every one wishes to be inflicted, or to insure it by the complication of hypocrisy with guilt, never fails to excite indignation and abhorrence. Who acts: one. A sentence of «Oriental tales, for the ent
---

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# Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth, The Story of Carazan., sentence 6

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On the contrary, the devotion of the selfish, whether it be thought to avert the punishment which every one wishes to be inflicted, or to insure it by the complication of hypocrisy with guilt, never fails to excite indignation and abhorrence.

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**Who acts:** one · **What happens:** think, avert, wish, inflict, insure, not fail · **To what, where:** devotion, punishment, indignation, contrary, selfish, hypocrisy

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This is a sentence of «Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth» by Anonymous, The Story of Carazan.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one), 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:pg62868:17:6
# text = On the contrary, the devotion of the selfish, whether it be thought to avert the punishment which every one wishes to be inflicted, or to insure it by the complication of hypocrisy with guilt, never fails to excite indignation and abhorrence.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	contrary	contrary	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	devotion	devotion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	selfish	selfish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	thought	think	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	avert	avert	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	punishment	punishment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	obj	_	_
20	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	21	det	_	_
21	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	wishes	wish	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
24	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	aux:pass	_	_
25	inflicted	inflict	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	insure	insure	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	by	by	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	complication	complication	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	hypocrisy	hypocrisy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
36	with	with	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	guilt	guilt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	40	advmod	_	_
40	fails	fail	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	parataxis	_	_
41	to	to	PART	TO	_	42	mark	_	_
42	excite	excite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	xcomp	_	_
43	indignation	indignation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
45	abhorrence	abhorrence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | infinitive · passive |  | devotion |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 2 | **avert** | to-infinitive |  | the punishment |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **wish** | present | every one | the punishment |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **inflict** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive · passive | every one *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **insure** | to-infinitive |  | devotion |  |  |  | by the complication of hypocrisy with guilt | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Beneficiary |
| 6 | **not** **fail** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **excite** | to-infinitive |  | indignation and abhorrence |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus indignation=Experiencer |
| 9 | **devote** |  |  | the selfish |  |  |  |  | nom devotion «feeling transitive»: of=patient |
| 10 | **complicate** |  |  | hypocrisy with guilt |  |  |  |  | nom complication «act 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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