--- title: He would strut gravely, and with well-stiffened legs, up and down th… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics description: He would strut gravely, and with well-stiffened legs, up and down the room, chattering, and showing how he had vainly bowed to the east and cried “Mu—mu——” The Caliphess and her children were always much entertained by this performance; when the Caliph went on nodding and bowing, and calling “Mu—mu— --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/10/118/) [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 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/10/) / 118 # The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 10, sentence 118 He would strut gravely, and with well-stiffened legs, up and down the room, chattering, and showing how he had vainly bowed to the east and cried “Mu—mu——” The Caliphess and her children were always much entertained by this performance; when the Caliph went on nodding and bowing, and calling “Mu—mu——” too long, the Vizier would threaten laughingly to tell the Caliphess the subject of the discussion carried on one night outside the door of Princess Screech Owl. **Who acts:** Caliph, performance, Vizier, Caliphess, subject · **What happens:** strut, stiffen, chatter, show, bow, cry · **To what, where:** Caliphess, room, Mu, children, nodding, subject · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Caliph, performance, Vizier, Caliphess), 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:pg65965:10:118 # text = He would strut gravely, and with well-stiffened legs, up and down the room, chattering, and showing how he had vainly bowed to the east and cried “Mu—mu——” The Caliphess and her children were always much entertained by this performance; when the Caliph went on nodding and bowing, and calling “Mu—mu——” too long, the Vizier would threaten laughingly to tell the Caliphess the subject of the discussion carried on one night outside the door of Princess Screech Owl. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ _ 3 strut strut VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 4 gravely gravely ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 6 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 7 with with ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 8 well well ADV RB Degree=Pos 10 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 9 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 10 stiffened stiffen VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 11 amod _ _ 11 legs leg NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 13 up up ADP RB _ 17 case _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 15 down down ADP IN _ 13 conj _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 room room NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 19 chattering chatter VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 3 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 22 showing show VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 19 conj _ _ 23 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 27 advmod _ _ 24 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 25 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 26 vainly vainly ADV RB _ 27 advmod _ _ 27 bowed bow VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 22 ccomp _ _ 28 to to ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 east east NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obl _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 32 cried cry VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 conj _ _ 33 “ " PUNCT `` _ 34 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 34 Mu mu NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 35 — - PUNCT : _ 36 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 36 mu mu NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 37 — - PUNCT : _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 38 — - PUNCT : _ 41 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 39 ” " PUNCT '' _ 38 punct _ _ 40 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 Caliphess Caliphess PROPN NNP Number=Sing 3 obl _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 48 cc _ _ 43 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 44 nmod:poss _ _ 44 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 48 nsubj:pass _ _ 45 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 48 aux:pass _ _ 46 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 47 advmod _ _ 47 much much ADV RB _ 48 advmod _ _ 48 entertained entertain VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 41 conj _ _ 49 by by ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 50 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 51 det _ _ 51 performance performance NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 52 ; ; PUNCT : _ 56 punct _ _ 53 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 56 advmod _ _ 54 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 55 det _ _ 55 Caliph Caliph PROPN NNP Number=Sing 56 nsubj _ _ 56 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 77 advcl _ _ 57 on on ADP IN _ 58 case _ _ 58 nodding nodding NOUN NN Number=Sing 56 obl _ _ 59 and and CCONJ CC _ 60 cc _ _ 60 bowing bowing NOUN NN Number=Sing 58 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 61 , , PUNCT , _ 63 punct _ _ 62 and and CCONJ CC _ 63 cc _ _ 63 calling call VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 56 advcl _ _ 64 “ " PUNCT `` _ 65 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 65 Mu mu NOUN NN Number=Sing 63 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 66 — - PUNCT : _ 67 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 67 mu mu NOUN NN Number=Sing 65 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 68 — - PUNCT : _ 63 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 69 — - PUNCT : _ 56 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 70 ” " PUNCT '' _ 56 punct _ _ 71 too too ADV RB _ 72 advmod _ _ 72 long long ADV RB Degree=Pos 77 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 73 , , PUNCT , _ 72 punct _ _ 74 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 75 det _ _ 75 Vizier Vizier PROPN NNP Number=Sing 77 nsubj _ _ 76 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 77 aux _ _ 77 threaten threaten VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 parataxis _ _ 78 laughingly laughingly ADV RB _ 77 advmod _ _ 79 to to PART TO _ 80 mark _ _ 80 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 77 advcl _ _ 81 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 82 det _ _ 82 Caliphess Caliphess PROPN NNP Number=Sing 80 obj _ _ 83 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 84 det _ _ 84 subject subject NOUN NN Number=Sing 80 obj _ _ 85 of of ADP IN _ 87 case _ _ 86 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 87 det _ _ 87 discussion discussion NOUN NN Number=Sing 88 obl _ _ 88 carried carry VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 84 acl:relcl _ _ 89 on on ADP IN _ 91 case _ _ 90 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 91 nummod _ _ 91 night night NOUN NN Number=Sing 88 obl _ _ 92 outside outside ADP IN _ 94 case _ _ 93 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 94 det _ _ 94 door door NOUN NN Number=Sing 88 obl _ _ 95 of of ADP IN _ 98 case _ _ 96 Princess Princess PROPN NNP Number=Sing 98 compound _ _ 97 Screech Screech PROPN NNP Number=Sing 98 compound _ _ 98 Owl Owl PROPN NNP Number=Sing 94 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 99 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **strut** | would | Caliph | the Caliphess | | the room | | gravely *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme up room=Trajectory | | 2 | **stiffen** | participle | | | | | | well *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 3 | **chatter** | gerund | Caliph *not said here* | | | | | | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **show** | gerund | Caliph *not said here* | | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 5 | **bow** | past · perfect | Caliph | | | | | to the east; vainly *property* | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to east=Theme | | 6 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | Caliph *not said here* | Mu and mu | | | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **entertain** | past · passive | this performance | stork's children | | | always | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus subject=Experiencer | | 8 | **go** | past | the Caliph | | | nodding and bowing | | | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on nodding=Location | | 9 | **call** | gerund | the Caliph *not said here* | Mu and mu | | | | | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent mu=Recipient | | 10 | **threaten** | would | the Vizier | | | | | laughingly, long *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | | 11 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | the Caliphess | the subject | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent subject=Recipient | | 12 | **carry** | past | the subject *not said here* | | | | night | of the discussion; outside the door of Princess Screech Owl | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent of discussion=Initial\_Location | 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 117](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/10/117/) - next →: [sentence 119](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/10/119/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/10/)