---
title: The steepness of the rocks formed a strong barrier to men, whether o… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: The steepness of the rocks formed a strong barrier to men, whether on horseback or on foot, so that the sorceress judged that the prince and his retinue had suddenly retired either into some cavern or some underground place, the abode of genii or fairies. Who acts: steepness, sorceress. A sentence o
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 13, sentence 44

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The steepness of the rocks formed a strong barrier to men, whether on horseback or on foot, so that the sorceress judged that the prince and his retinue had suddenly retired either into some cavern or some underground place, the abode of genii or fairies.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** steepness, sorceress · **What happens:** form, judge, retire · **To what, where:** strong barrier, men, horseback, prince

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (steepness, sorceress), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg65965:13:44
# text = The steepness of the rocks formed a strong barrier to men, whether on horseback or on foot, so that the sorceress judged that the prince and his retinue had suddenly retired either into some cavern or some underground place, the abode of genii or fairies.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	steepness	steepness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
6	formed	form	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	barrier	barrier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	horseback	horseback	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	on	on	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	24	mark	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	fixed	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	sorceress	sorceress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	judged	judge	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	retinue	retinue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	conj	_	_
31	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	retired	retire	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	advcl	_	_
34	either	either	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc:preconj	_	_
35	into	into	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	37	det	_	_
37	cavern	cavern	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
38	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
39	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	41	det	_	_
40	underground	underground	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	abode	abode	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	appos	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	genii	genii	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	nmod	_	_
47	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
48	fairies	fairy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **form** | past | the steepness of the rocks | a strong barrier | men | horseback or foot |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent barrier=Theme to man=Recipient |
| 2 | **judge** | past | the sorceress |  |  |  |  |  | vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V whether/if S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **retire** | past · perfect · passive |  | the prince and Prince's retinue |  |  |  | some cavern or some underground place *obj*; suddenly *property* | 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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

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