---
title: He was an expert swimmer, and he dived to the bottom, then skimmed a… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: He was an expert swimmer, and he dived to the bottom, then skimmed along the top, his queue floating on the water, and looking like an eel. Who acts: demon, queue. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 15, with its dependency tree a
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 15, sentence 116

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He was an expert swimmer, and he dived to the bottom, then skimmed along the top, his queue floating on the water, and looking like an eel.

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**Who acts:** demon, queue · **What happens:** be, dive, skim, float, look · **To what, where:** expert swimmer, bottom, water

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This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (demon, queue), 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:pg65965:15:118
# text = He was an expert swimmer, and he dived to the bottom, then skimmed along the top, his queue floating on the water, and looking like an eel.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	expert	expert	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	swimmer	swimmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	dived	dive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	_
15	skimmed	skim	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	conj	_	_
16	along	along	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	queue	queue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	_
22	floating	float	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	21	acl	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
29	like	like	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	eel	eel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | demon | a expert swimmer |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **dive** | past | demon |  |  | the bottom |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to bottom=Location |
| 3 | **skim** | participle | demon *not said here* |  |  |  | then | along the top and demon's queue | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **float** | gerund | demon's queue *not said here* |  |  | the water |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on water=Trajectory |
| 5 | **look** | gerund | demon *not said here* |  |  |  |  | like a eel | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |

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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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