---
title: “This is a queer fish that you have got hold of, Chang,” said the po… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: “This is a queer fish that you have got hold of, Chang,” said the porter; “I never heard one make a noise like this before. Who acts: This, you, porter, one. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 16, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 16, sentence 60

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“This is a queer fish that you have got hold of, Chang,” said the porter; “I never heard one make a noise like this before.

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**Who acts:** This, you, porter, one · **What happens:** be, get, say, not hear, make, hold · **To what, where:** queer fish, noise, Chang · **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 (This, you, porter, one), 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:pg65965:16:60
# text = “This is a queer fish that you have got hold of, Chang,” said the porter; “I never heard one make a noise like this before.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	queer	queer	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	obl	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	acl:relcl	_	_
11	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	Chang	Chang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	porter	porter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
21	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
24	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
25	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	26	nsubj	_	_
26	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	ccomp	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	like	like	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	obl	_	_
31	before	before	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | This | a queer fish |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **get** *in a quote* | present · perfect | you | a queer fish |  |  |  | hold of Chang *obj* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hold=Stimulus |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the porter |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **not** **hear** *in a quote* | past | the porter *= porter* |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **make** *in a quote* | infinitive | one | a noise |  |  |  | like this; before *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset noise=Product |
| 6 | **hold** *in a quote* |  |  | Chang |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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