---
title: “‘Hard it is to conquer nature: if a dog were made a king, Mid the c… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: “‘Hard it is to conquer nature: if a dog were made a king, Mid the coronation trumpets, he would gnaw his sandal-string.’ Who acts: Mid, dog. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 18, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 18, sentence 86

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“‘Hard it is to conquer nature: if a dog were made a king, Mid the coronation trumpets, he would gnaw his sandal-string.’

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**Who acts:** Mid, dog · **What happens:** be, make, gnaw · **To what, where:** dog, sandal string

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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 (Mid, dog), 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:pg65965:18:87
# text = “‘Hard it is to conquer nature: if a dog were made a king, Mid the coronation trumpets, he would gnaw his sandal-string.’
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	Hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	conquer	conquer	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	advcl	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	Mid	Mid	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obl:agent	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	coronation	coronation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	trumpets	trumpet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	gnaw	gnaw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
27	sandal	sandal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	string	string	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | nature *obj*; conquer *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **make** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past · passive | Mid | a dog |  |  |  | a king *obj* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset subject=Beneficiary king=Product |
| 3 | **gnaw** *in a quote* | would | dog | dog's sandal string |  |  |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent string=Patient |

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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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