--- title: “It is very strange,” said the Emperor, “I’ve never heard this Night… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics description: “It is very strange,” said the Emperor, “I’ve never heard this Nightingale and it does seem unusual that I should know about it for the first time from reading books written by travellers.” Who acts: thing, Emperor, it. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfiel --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/1/116/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Jade Story Book; Stories from the…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/) / [Opening, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/1/) / 116 # The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 1, sentence 116 “It is very strange,” said the Emperor, “I’ve never heard this Nightingale and it does seem unusual that I should know about it for the first time from reading books written by travellers.” **Who acts:** thing, Emperor, it · **What happens:** be, say, not hear, seem, know, write · **To what, where:** Nightingale, reading books · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (thing, Emperor, it), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg65965:1:124 # text = “It is very strange,” said the Emperor, “I’ve never heard this Nightingale and it does seem unusual that I should know about it for the first time from reading books written by travellers.” 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 3 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 4 very very ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 5 strange strange ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 7 ” " PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ 8 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 Emperor Emperor PROPN NNP Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 12 “ " PUNCT `` _ 16 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 16 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 14 ’ve have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 16 aux _ _ 15 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 16 advmod _ _ 16 heard hear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 8 conj _ _ 17 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 18 det _ _ 18 Nightingale Nightingale PROPN NNP Number=Sing 16 obj _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 20 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 21 does do AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 22 seem seem VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 conj _ _ 23 unusual unusual ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 xcomp _ _ 24 that that SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 25 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 26 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 27 know know VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 23 advcl _ _ 28 about about ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 29 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 obl _ _ 30 for for ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 32 first first ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 33 amod _ _ 33 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obl _ _ 34 from from ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 35 reading reading NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 compound _ _ 36 books book NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 nmod _ _ 37 written write VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 36 acl _ _ 38 by by ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 39 travellers traveller NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 ” " PUNCT '' _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | thing | | | | | strange *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Emperor | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **not** **hear** *in a quote* | present · perfect | the Emperor *= emperor* | this Nightingale | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer nightingale=Stimulus | | 4 | **seem** *in a quote* | present · do-support | it | | | | | unusual *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **know** *in a quote* | should | the Emperor *= emperor* | | | | time | about thing | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer about it=Stimulus | | 6 | **write** *in a quote* | participle | | reading books *not said here* | | | | by travellers | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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. **Text:** «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Project Gutenberg book 65965 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 115](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/1/115/) - next →: [sentence 117](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/1/117/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/1/)