---
title: The prince called to the crier, and when he had examined the carpet,… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: The prince called to the crier, and when he had examined the carpet, told him that he could not comprehend how so small a piece of carpet, and of so indifferent an appearance, could be held at so high a price unless it had something very extraordinary in it which he knew nothing of. Who acts: crier,
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 11, sentence 19

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The prince called to the crier, and when he had examined the carpet, told him that he could not comprehend how so small a piece of carpet, and of so indifferent an appearance, could be held at so high a price unless it had something very extraordinary in it which he knew nothing of.

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**Who acts:** crier, prince, piece · **What happens:** call, examine, tell, not comprehend, hold, have · **To what, where:** prince, crier, carpet, something, nothing · **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 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (crier, prince, piece), 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:pg65965:11:19
# text = The prince called to the crier, and when he had examined the carpet, told him that he could not comprehend how so small a piece of carpet, and of so indifferent an appearance, could be held at so high a price unless it had something very extraordinary in it which he knew nothing of.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
3	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	crier	crier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	examined	examine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	acl:relcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	carpet	carpet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
16	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	iobj	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	comprehend	comprehend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	ccomp	_	_
23	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	ccomp	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	carpet	carpet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	so	so	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	indifferent	indifferent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	obl	_	_
35	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	appearance	appearance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
38	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
39	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	aux:pass	_	_
40	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	conj	_	_
41	at	at	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	so	so	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
43	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	xcomp	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	price	price	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
46	unless	unless	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
47	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
48	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	advcl	_	_
49	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	48	obj	_	_
50	very	very	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
51	extraordinary	extraordinary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
52	in	in	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	obl	_	_
54	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	56	obj	_	_
55	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
56	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	conj	_	_
57	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	56	obj	_	_
58	of	of	ADP	IN	_	57	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | participle |  | the prince *not said here* | the crier |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to crier=Recipient |
| 2 | **examine** | past · perfect | crier | the carpet |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent carpet=Theme |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the prince |  | crier |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **not** **comprehend** | could | crier |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **hold** | could · passive | the prince *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of indifferent  a appearance; high *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V» |
| 6 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | piece | something |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Patient |
| 7 | **know** | past | crier | nothing |  |  |  | which *obj* | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
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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