---
title: But the witch replied that she could work no harm against the young… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: But the witch replied that she could work no harm against the young prince, because he was under the protection of his godmother, whose power was greater than her own. Who acts: witch, prince, power. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening,
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 18, sentence 124

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But the witch replied that she could work no harm against the young prince, because he was under the protection of his godmother, whose power was greater than her own.

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**Who acts:** witch, prince, power · **What happens:** reply, work, be · **To what, where:** harm, protection · **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 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (witch, prince, power), 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:pg65965:18:127
# text = But the witch replied that she could work no harm against the young prince, because he was under the protection of his godmother, whose power was greater than her own.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
9	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	10	det	_	_
10	harm	harm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	against	against	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
19	under	under	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	protection	protection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	godmother	godmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
29	greater	great	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	24	amod	_	_
30	than	than	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the witch |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **work** | could | witch | no harm |  |  |  | against the young prince | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent harm=Material |
| 3 | **is** | past | prince |  |  | the protection |  | of prince's godmother | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | past | power |  |  |  |  | than witch's own; great *property* | tree rules |

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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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