---
title: “Certainly,” said he to himself, “neither I nor any man living could… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: “Certainly,” said he to himself, “neither I nor any man living could shoot an arrow so far. Who acts: Prince, man. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 12, sentence 35

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“Certainly,” said he to himself, “neither I nor any man living could shoot an arrow so far.

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**Who acts:** Prince, man · **What happens:** say, live, shoot · **To what, where:** Prince, arrow · **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 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Prince, man), 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:pg65965:12:35
# text = “Certainly,” said he to himself, “neither I nor any man living could shoot an arrow so far.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	12	cc:preconj	_	_
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
13	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	15	cc	_	_
14	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	15	det	_	_
15	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
16	living	live	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	acl	_	_
17	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	shoot	shoot	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
19	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	arrow	arrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	18	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Prince |  | Prince |  |  | certainly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to himself=Recipient |
| 2 | **live** *in a quote* | gerund | any man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **shoot** *in a quote* | could | Prince | a arrow |  |  |  | far *property* | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arrow=Theme |

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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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