--- title: Would it not be better to turn the prince’s alliance to your advanta… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics description: Would it not be better to turn the prince’s alliance to your advantage by imposing on him some hard task, which, if he performs, will benefit you, and which, if he cannot perform, may give you an honorable pretext for your accusations against him? Who acts: it, Prince, hard task, your. A sentence of --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/13/95/) [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 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/13/) / 95 # The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 13, sentence 95 Would it not be better to turn the prince’s alliance to your advantage by imposing on him some hard task, which, if he performs, will benefit you, and which, if he cannot perform, may give you an honorable pretext for your accusations against him? **Who acts:** it, Prince, hard task, your · **What happens:** not be, turn, impose, perform, benefit, not perform · **To what, where:** alliance, advantage, hard task, you, honorable pretext 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 (it, Prince, hard task, your), 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:pg65965:13:95 # text = Would it not be better to turn the prince’s alliance to your advantage by imposing on him some hard task, which, if he performs, will benefit you, and which, if he cannot perform, may give you an honorable pretext for your accusations against him? 1 Would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 2 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 3 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 5 advmod _ _ 4 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 5 cop _ _ 5 better good ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 0 root _ _ 6 to to PART TO _ 7 mark _ _ 7 turn turn VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 5 csubj _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 prince prince NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 10 ’s 's PART POS _ 9 case _ _ 11 alliance alliance NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ _ 12 to to ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 your your PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 14 nmod:poss _ _ 14 advantage advantage NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ _ 15 by by SCONJ IN _ 16 mark _ _ 16 imposing impose VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 7 advcl _ _ 17 on on ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 18 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 obl _ _ 19 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 21 det _ _ 20 hard hard ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 21 task task NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 23 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 30 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 25 if if SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 26 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 27 performs perform VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 30 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 29 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ _ 30 benefit benefit VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 21 acl:relcl _ _ 31 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 30 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 34 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 43 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 36 if if SCONJ IN _ 40 mark _ _ 37 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj _ _ 38 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 40 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 39 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 40 advmod _ _ 40 perform perform VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 42 may may AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 43 aux _ _ 43 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 conj _ _ 44 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 43 iobj _ _ 45 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 46 honorable honorable ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 amod _ _ 47 pretext pretext NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obj _ _ 48 for for ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 49 your your PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 50 nmod:poss _ _ 50 accusations accusation NOUN NNS Number=Plur 47 nmod _ _ 51 against against ADP IN _ 52 case _ _ 52 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 50 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 53 ? ? PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **is** | would | it | | | | | good *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **turn** | to-infinitive | | the prince's alliance | | your advantage | | | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent alliance=Theme to advantage=Trajectory | | 3 | **impose** | gerund | | some hard task | | | | on Prince | vn enforce-63 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent task=Theme | | 4 | **perform** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | Prince | | | | | | vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **benefit** | future | some hard task | | you | | | | vn benefit-72.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer you=Beneficiary | | 6 | **not** **perform** *a condition, not said to happen* | can | Prince | | | | | | vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **give** | may | | a honorable pretext | you | | | for your accusations against Prince; which *nsubj* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent you=Recipient pretext=Theme for accusation=Asset | | 8 | **ally** | | the prince | | | | | | nom alliance «state transitive»: poss=agent | | 9 | **accuse** | | your | | | | | against Prince | nom accusation «communication transitive»: poss=agent against=obl | 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 94](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/13/94/) - next →: [sentence 96](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/13/96/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/13/)