---
title: I obliged your father, some days before he died, to write that which… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: I obliged your father, some days before he died, to write that which you read on the piece of white satin. Who acts: I, father, you. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 17, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 17, sentence 121

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I obliged your father, some days before he died, to write that which you read on the piece of white satin.

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**Who acts:** I, father, you · **What happens:** oblige, die, write, read · **To what, where:** father, that, piece

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This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, father, you), 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:pg65965:17:121
# text = I obliged your father, some days before he died, to write that which you read on the piece of white satin.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	obliged	oblige	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
7	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
8	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	write	write	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
14	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	13	obj	_	_
15	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	obj	_	_
16	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	read	read	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	ccomp	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	satin	satin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **oblige** | past | I | your father and some days |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent father=Patient |
| 2 | **die** | past | father |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 3 | **write** | to-infinitive | father *not said here* | that |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent that=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **read** | present | you |  |  | the piece of white satin |  | which *obj* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Topic |

<!-- .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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