---
title: The demon of hunger whispered to him, “Eat it; never mind what the o… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: The demon of hunger whispered to him, “Eat it; never mind what the old carp said, he knows less than you do. Who acts: demon, old carp, Sin. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 16, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ev
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 16, sentence 37

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The demon of hunger whispered to him, “Eat it; never mind what the old carp said, he knows less than you do.

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**Who acts:** demon, old carp, Sin · **What happens:** whisper, eat, not mind, say, know, do · **To what, where:** Sin, demon, less · **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 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (demon, old carp, 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:pg65965:16:37
# text = The demon of hunger whispered to him, “Eat it; never mind what the old carp said, he knows less than you do.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	demon	demon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	hunger	hunger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	whispered	whisper	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	Eat	eat	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
13	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	mind	mind	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
15	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	obj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	carp	carp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
23	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	22	obj	_	_
24	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
25	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | past | the demon of hunger |  | Sin |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **eat** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | demon |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 3 | **not** **mind** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn caring-75.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Theme |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | the old carp |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **know** *in a quote* | present | Sin | less |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer less=Stimulus |
| 6 | **do** *in a quote* | present | Sin |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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