---
title: After a frugal meal, which consisted of roots and tea, Mencius could… — Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth · tree and pragmatics
description: After a frugal meal, which consisted of roots and tea, Mencius could not repress his curiosity to know why the hermit had retired from mankind, whose actions taught the truest lessons of wisdom. Who acts: frugal meal, Mencius, actions. A sentence of «Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth» b
---

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# Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth, Story of Mencius., sentence 5

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After a frugal meal, which consisted of roots and tea, Mencius could not repress his curiosity to know why the hermit had retired from mankind, whose actions taught the truest lessons of wisdom.

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**Who acts:** frugal meal, Mencius, actions · **What happens:** consist, not repress, know, retire, teach · **To what, where:** curiosity, hermit, mankind, truest lessons · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth» by Anonymous, Story of Mencius.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (frugal meal, Mencius, actions), 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:pg62868:3:5
# text = After a frugal meal, which consisted of roots and tea, Mencius could not repress his curiosity to know why the hermit had retired from mankind, whose actions taught the truest lessons of wisdom.
1	After	after	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	frugal	frugal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	meal	meal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	consisted	consist	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	tea	tea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
13	Mencius	Mencius	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
14	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
16	repress	repress	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	curiosity	curiosity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	advcl	_	_
21	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	hermit	hermit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	retired	retire	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	ccomp	_	_
26	from	from	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	mankind	mankind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	actions	action	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nsubj	_	_
31	taught	teach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	acl:relcl	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	truest	true	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	34	amod	_	_
34	lessons	lesson	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obj	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	wisdom	wisdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **consist** | past | a frugal meal |  |  |  |  | of roots and tea | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **repress** | could | Mencius | Mencius's curiosity |  |  | after a frugal meal |  | vn concealment-16 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent curiosity=Patient |
| 3 | **know** | to-infinitive | Mencius *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **retire** | past · perfect · passive |  | the hermit |  | mankind |  |  | vn resign-10.11-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Attribute |
| 5 | **teach** *speech: other* | past | actions | the truest lessons of wisdom |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent lesson=Recipient |

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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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