---
title: “Can that God be benevolent,” he cried, “who thus wounds the soul, a… — Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth · tree and pragmatics
description: “Can that God be benevolent,” he cried, “who thus wounds the soul, as from an ambush, with unexpected sorrows, and crushes his creatures in a moment with irremediable calamity? Who acts: God. A sentence of «Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth» by Anonymous, The Story of Bozaldab., with it
---

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# Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth, The Story of Bozaldab., sentence 4

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“Can that God be benevolent,” he cried, “who thus wounds the soul, as from an ambush, with unexpected sorrows, and crushes his creatures in a moment with irremediable calamity?

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**Who acts:** God · **What happens:** be, cry, wound, crush · **To what, where:** soul, creatures · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth» by Anonymous, The Story of Bozaldab.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (God), 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:pg62868:19:4
# text = “Can that God be benevolent,” he cried, “who thus wounds the soul, as from an ambush, with unexpected sorrows, and crushes his creatures in a moment with irremediable calamity?
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
6	benevolent	benevolent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
14	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	wounds	wound	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	soul	soul	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	as	as	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	from	from	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	ambush	ambush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	unexpected	unexpected	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	sorrows	sorrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	crushes	crush	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	creatures	creature	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
35	with	with	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	irremediable	irremediable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	calamity	calamity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | can | God |  |  |  |  | benevolent *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | God |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **wound** *in a quote* | present |  | the soul |  |  |  | as a ambush and unexpected sorrows; who *nsubj*; thus *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus soul=Experiencer |
| 4 | **crush** *in a quote* | present |  | God's creatures |  |  | moment |  | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent creature=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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