---
title: He immediately began work, and took up more than half the square sto… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: He immediately began work, and took up more than half the square stones it was paved with, yet saw not the least appearance of what he sought. Who acts: dream, square stones. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 17, with its depend
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 17, sentence 5

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He immediately began work, and took up more than half the square stones it was paved with, yet saw not the least appearance of what he sought.

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**Who acts:** dream, square stones · **What happens:** begin, take up, pave, not see, seek · **To what, where:** work, more, least appearance

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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 (dream, square stones), 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:pg65965:17:5
# text = He immediately began work, and took up more than half the square stones it was paved with, yet saw not the least appearance of what he sought.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	immediately	immediately	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
8	up	up	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	obj	_	_
10	than	than	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
11	half	half	DET	PDT	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac|PronType=Ind	14	det:predet	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	square	square	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	stones	stone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	paved	pave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	acl:relcl	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	25	amod	_	_
25	appearance	appearance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	25	nmod	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	sought	seek	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | dream | work |  |  |  | immediately *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent work=Eventuality |
| 2 | **take up** | past |  | more than half square stones |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent more=Theme |
| 3 | **pave** | past · passive | half square stones *not said here* | work |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Destination |
| 4 | **not** **see** | past |  | the least appearance |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer appearance=Stimulus |
| 5 | **seek** | past | dream |  |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «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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