---
title: Without doubt he seeks my ruin; but if there are any means, I beg yo… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: Without doubt he seeks my ruin; but if there are any means, I beg you will tell me how I may come off with honor this time also.” Who acts: prince, any, I, you. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 14, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 14, sentence 83

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Without doubt he seeks my ruin; but if there are any means, I beg you will tell me how I may come off with honor this time also.”

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**Who acts:** prince, any, I, you, my · **What happens:** seek, be, mean, beg, tell, come off · **To what, where:** ruin, me · **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 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (prince, any, I, you), 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:pg65965:14:83
# text = Without doubt he seeks my ruin; but if there are any means, I beg you will tell me how I may come off with honor this time also.”
1	Without	without	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	doubt	doubt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	seeks	seek	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	ruin	ruin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
9	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	11	expl	_	_
11	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
12	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	13	nsubj	_	_
13	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	beg	beg	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
20	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	iobj	_	_
21	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	24	advmod	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	ccomp	_	_
25	off	off	ADP	RP	_	24	compound:prt	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	honor	honor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
28	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	29	det	_	_
29	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl:unmarked	_	_
30	also	also	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seek** | present | prince | my ruin |  |  |  | without doubt | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ruin=Theme |
| 2 | **be** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | any *not said here* |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **mean** | present | any |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **beg** *speech: request* | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | future | you |  | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent i=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **come off** | may | I |  |  |  | time | with honor | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **ruin** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom ruin «state transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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