---
title: “It doesn’t seem possible that so very common looking a bird as that… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: “It doesn’t seem possible that so very common looking a bird as that can sing,” said the First Lord. Who acts: It, looking, First Lord. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 1, sentence 141

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“It doesn’t seem possible that so very common looking a bird as that can sing,” said the First Lord.

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**Who acts:** It, looking, First Lord · **What happens:** not seem, look, sing, say · **To what, where:** bird · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (It, looking, First Lord), 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:pg65965:1:149
# text = “It doesn’t seem possible that so very common looking a bird as that can sing,” said the First Lord.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	seem	seem	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	ccomp	_	_
6	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	dep	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	very	very	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	_
11	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	csubj	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	as	as	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	obl	_	_
16	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
20	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	First	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	23	amod	_	_
23	Lord	Lord	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **seem** *in a quote* | present · do-support | It |  |  |  |  | possible *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **look** *in a quote* | gerund |  | a bird |  |  |  | as that | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme bird=Attribute |
| 3 | **sing** *speech: express* *in a quote* | can | looking |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the First Lord |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

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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:** «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.

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