---
title: He tied its legs together with a piece of rattan and was about to st… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: He tied its legs together with a piece of rattan and was about to start for home with the pig on his back, when to his surprise a door in the large stone swung open and a man stepped out. Who acts: boy, door. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens,
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 15, sentence 41

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He tied its legs together with a piece of rattan and was about to start for home with the pig on his back, when to his surprise a door in the large stone swung open and a man stepped out.

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**Who acts:** boy, door · **What happens:** tie, be, start, swing, step out, surprise · **To what, where:** legs, man, surprise

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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 (boy, door), 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:pg65965:15:42
# text = He tied its legs together with a piece of rattan and was about to start for home with the pig on his back, when to his surprise a door in the large stone swung open and a man stepped out.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	tied	tie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	together	together	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	rattan	rattan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	start	start	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	pig	pig	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
21	on	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
25	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	35	advmod	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
35	swung	swing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
36	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	xcomp	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
40	stepped	step	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	39	acl	_	_
41	out	out	ADP	RP	_	40	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tie** | past | boy | pig's legs |  |  |  | with a piece of rattan; together *property* | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent leg=Patient with piece=Co-Patient |
| 2 | **is** | past | boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **start** | to-infinitive | boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for home; with the pig on boy's back | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with pig=Subeventuality |
| 4 | **swing** | past | a door in the large stone | a man |  | boy's surprise |  | open *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme to surprise=Trajectory |
| 5 | **step out** | participle |  | a man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **surprise** |  | boy |  |  |  |  |  | nom surprise «feeling 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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