---
title: Some time after this the Emperor became very ill, and as the physici… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: Some time after this the Emperor became very ill, and as the physicians said that he could not live for more than a few days, his successor was chosen. Who acts: Emperor, physicians, Physician. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 2, sentence 8

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Some time after this the Emperor became very ill, and as the physicians said that he could not live for more than a few days, his successor was chosen.

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**Who acts:** Emperor, physicians, Physician · **What happens:** become, say, not live, choose · **To what, where:** successor · **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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Emperor, physicians, Physician), 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:pg65965:2:8
# text = Some time after this the Emperor became very ill, and as the physicians said that he could not live for more than a few days, his successor was chosen.
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	2	det	_	_
2	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	after	after	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	nmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Emperor	Emperor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	very	very	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
12	as	as	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	physicians	physician	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
15	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
16	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
18	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
20	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	ccomp	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	20	obl	_	_
23	than	than	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	successor	successor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	chosen	choose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | past | the Emperor |  |  |  | time | ill *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the physicians |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **live** | could | Physician |  |  |  |  | for more than a few days | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **choose** | past · passive |  | Physician's successor |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

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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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