--- title: Mr. Le, the elder of the two, had been asked to leave the last posit… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics description: Mr. Le, the elder of the two, had been asked to leave the last position he held because it was his custom to levy blackmail whenever he could do so, and he was also charged, let us hope unjustly, with having inflicted torture upon those unfortunate ones who could not, or would not, meet his demands. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/15/91/) [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 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/15/) / 91 # The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 15, sentence 91 Mr. Le, the elder of the two, had been asked to leave the last position he held because it was his custom to levy blackmail whenever he could do so, and he was also charged, let us hope unjustly, with having inflicted torture upon those unfortunate ones who could not, or would not, meet his demands. **Who acts:** Le, position, us · **What happens:** ask, leave, hold, be, levy, do · **To what, where:** Le, last position, custom, blackmail, us, inflicted torture 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 (Le, position, us), 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:pg65965:15:93 # text = Mr. Le, the elder of the two, had been asked to leave the last position he held because it was his custom to levy blackmail whenever he could do so, and he was also charged, let us hope unjustly, with having inflicted torture upon those unfortunate ones who could not, or would not, meet his demands. 1 Mr. Mr. PROPN NNP Number=Sing 2 nmod:desc _ _ 2 Le Le PROPN NNP Number=Sing 12 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 elder elder NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 appos _ _ 6 of of ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 5 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 10 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 aux _ _ 11 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 12 aux:pass _ _ 12 asked ask VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 13 to to PART TO _ 14 mark _ _ 14 leave leave VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 xcomp _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 16 last last ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 amod _ _ 17 position position NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obj _ _ 18 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 held hold VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 acl:relcl _ _ 20 because because SCONJ IN _ 24 mark _ _ 21 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 22 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 cop _ _ 23 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 24 nmod:poss _ _ 24 custom custom NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 advcl _ _ 25 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 26 levy levy VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 19 advcl _ _ 27 blackmail blackmail NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ _ 28 whenever whenever ADV WRB PronType=Rel 31 advmod _ _ 29 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 30 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 31 aux _ _ 31 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 26 conj _ _ 32 so so ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 35 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj:pass _ _ 36 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 38 aux:pass _ _ 37 also also ADV RB _ 38 advmod _ _ 38 charged charge VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 12 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 40 let let VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 advcl _ _ 41 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 40 obj _ _ 42 hope hope VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 40 xcomp _ _ 43 unjustly unjustly ADV RB _ 42 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 46 punct _ _ 45 with with SCONJ IN _ 46 mark _ _ 46 having have VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 42 advcl _ _ 47 inflicted inflict VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 48 amod _ _ 48 torture torture NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obj _ _ 49 upon upon ADP IN _ 52 case _ _ 50 those that DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 52 det _ _ 51 unfortunate unfortunate ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 52 amod _ _ 52 ones one NOUN NNS Number=Plur 46 obl _ _ 53 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 54 nsubj _ _ 54 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 52 acl:relcl _ _ 55 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 54 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 56 , , PUNCT , _ 61 punct _ _ 57 or or CCONJ CC _ 61 cc _ _ 58 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 61 aux _ _ 59 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 61 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 60 , , PUNCT , _ 59 punct _ _ 61 meet meet VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 conj _ _ 62 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 63 nmod:poss _ _ 63 demands demand NOUN NNS Number=Plur 61 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 64 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past · perfect · passive | | Le Mr. | | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic | | 2 | **leave** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Le Mr. *not said here* | the last position | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent position=Theme | | 3 | **hold** | past | Le | the last position *not said here* | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent position=Theme | | 4 | **is a** | past | position | Le's custom | | | | Le *nmod:poss* | tree rules | | 5 | **levy** | to-infinitive | Le *not said here* | blackmail | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **do** | could | Le | | | | | whenever *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **charge** | past · passive | | Le | | | | | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme | | 8 | **let** | infinitive | | us | | | | | tree rules | | 9 | **hope** | infinitive | us *not said here* | | | | | unjustly *property* | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot | | 10 | **have** | gerund | us *not said here* | inflicted torture | | | | upon that unfortunate ones | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent torture=Patient | | 11 | **inflict** | participle | | | | | | | tree rules | | 12 | **not** **meet** | would | | Le's demands | | | | | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent demand=Co-Agent | | 13 | **demand** | | Le | | | | | | nom demand «communication transitive»: poss=agent | 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 90](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/15/90/) - next →: [sentence 92](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/15/92/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/15/)