---
title: Perhaps it was because he didn’t know how to look for food, but it d… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: Perhaps it was because he didn’t know how to look for food, but it did seem to him that there was nothing eatable about, although he went from one bank to the other; dived down to the bed of the river, and nosed among the refuse there, but all to no purpose. Who acts: worm, it, nothing, Sin. A sente
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 16, sentence 33

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Perhaps it was because he didn’t know how to look for food, but it did seem to him that there was nothing eatable about, although he went from one bank to the other; dived down to the bed of the river, and nosed among the refuse there, but all to no purpose.

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**Who acts:** worm, it, nothing, Sin · **What happens:** not be, look, seem, be, go, dive down · **To what, where:** Sin, all, one bank, bed, refuse

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This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (worm, it, nothing, Sin), 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:pg65965:16:33
# text = Perhaps it was because he didn’t know how to look for food, but it did seem to him that there was nothing eatable about, although he went from one bank to the other; dived down to the bed of the river, and nosed among the refuse there, but all to no purpose.
1	Perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
4	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	seem	seem	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	advcl	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obl	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	23	expl	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	25	nsubj	_	_
25	eatable	eatable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
26	about	about	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
31	from	from	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	33	nummod	_	_
33	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	_
38	dived	dive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	_
39	down	down	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
40	to	to	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
48	nosed	nose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	38	conj	_	_
49	among	among	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	refuse	refuse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	_
52	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	48	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
54	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
55	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	30	obl	_	_
56	to	to	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	58	det	_	_
58	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past · do-support | worm |  |  |  |  | Sin *nsubj*; know, perhaps *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **look** | to-infinitive | worm *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for food | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for food=Theme |
| 3 | **seem** | past · do-support | it |  | Sin |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | nothing |  |  |  |  | about, eatable *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **go** | past | Sin | all to no purpose |  | one bank |  | to the other | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme from bank=Initial\_Location to other=Destination |
| 6 | **dive down** | past | Sin *not said here* |  |  | the bed of the river |  | down *property* | vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to bed=Location |
| 7 | **nose** | participle | Sin *not said here* |  |  | the refuse; there |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme among refuse=Trajectory |

<!-- .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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