---
title: The soldier at once departed on his mission, but as soon as he had g… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: The soldier at once departed on his mission, but as soon as he had gone the King repented him of sending him out alone into a night so dark that a hole might be pierced in it with a needle, so he took his scimitar, and followed his guard beyond the city gates. Who acts: soldier, King. A sentence of 
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 2, sentence 50

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The soldier at once departed on his mission, but as soon as he had gone the King repented him of sending him out alone into a night so dark that a hole might be pierced in it with a needle, so he took his scimitar, and followed his guard beyond the city gates.

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**Who acts:** soldier, King · **What happens:** depart, go, repent, send out, pierce, take · **To what, where:** soldier, mission, King, hole, scimitar, guard

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This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (soldier, King), 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:pg65965:2:51
# text = The soldier at once departed on his mission, but as soon as he had gone the King repented him of sending him out alone into a night so dark that a hole might be pierced in it with a needle, so he took his scimitar, and followed his guard beyond the city gates.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
3	at	at	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	advmod	_	_
5	departed	depart	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	mission	mission	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
11	as	as	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	16	advmod	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	repented	repent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
22	sending	send	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	out	out	ADP	RP	_	22	compound:prt	_	_
25	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
26	into	into	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
29	so	so	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
31	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj:pass	_	_
34	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	aux:pass	_	_
36	pierced	pierce	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	advcl	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obl	_	_
39	with	with	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	needle	needle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
43	so	so	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
44	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	parataxis	_	_
46	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	scimitar	scimitar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	followed	follow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	conj	_	_
51	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
52	guard	guard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obj	_	_
53	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
55	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	compound	_	_
56	gates	gate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **depart** | participle |  | the soldier *not said here* |  | soldier's mission |  | once *property* | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **go** | past · perfect | soldier |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **repent** | past | the soldier | King |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **send out** | gerund | the soldier *not said here* | King |  |  | night | alone *property* | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 5 | **pierce** | might · passive |  | a hole |  | mission |  | with a needle | vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with needle=Instrument |
| 6 | **take** | past | King | King's scimitar |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent scimitar=Theme |
| 7 | **follow** | past | King *not said here* | King's guard |  | the city gates |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent guard=Theme beyond gate=Trajectory |

<!-- .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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