---
title: “Madam,” answered Zeyn, “Heaven is my witness that I more than once… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: “Madam,” answered Zeyn, “Heaven is my witness that I more than once had nearly broken my word with the Sultan of the Genii by keeping you myself. Who acts: Madam, Heaven, that, my. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 18, with its 
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 18, sentence 57

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“Madam,” answered Zeyn, “Heaven is my witness that I more than once had nearly broken my word with the Sultan of the Genii by keeping you myself.

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**Who acts:** Madam, Heaven, that, my · **What happens:** answer, be, break, keep, word · **To what, where:** Zeyn, witness, word · **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 (Madam, Heaven, that, my), 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:pg65965:18:57
# text = “Madam,” answered Zeyn, “Heaven is my witness that I more than once had nearly broken my word with the Sultan of the Genii by keeping you myself.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Madam	madam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	Zeyn	Zeyn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	Heaven	heaven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	witness	witness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	12	conj	_	_
16	than	than	ADP	IN	_	15	fixed	_	_
17	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	20	advmod	_	_
18	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	parataxis	_	_
21	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	Genii	Genii	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
29	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
30	keeping	keep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	advcl	_	_
31	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	30	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | Madam |  | Zeyn |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent zeyn=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | Heaven | my witness |  |  |  | my *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** *in a quote* |  | that |  |  |  |  | I *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **break** *in a quote* | past · perfect |  | my word |  |  |  | with the Sultan of the Genii; nearly, once *property* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent word=Patient with sultan=Instrument |
| 5 | **keep** *in a quote* | gerund |  | Zeyn |  |  |  | myself *obl:unmarked* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Theme |
| 6 | **word** *in a quote* |  | my |  |  |  |  | with the Sultan of the Genii | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent with=obl |

<!-- .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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