---
title: It was the custom at that time for opposing armies to watch when a c… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: It was the custom at that time for opposing armies to watch when a champion from each side should engage in a duel, and so the armies of Shiku and Korkwi had stood awaiting the result. Who acts: speed, time, champion, armies. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wi
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/20/19/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Jade Story Book; Stories from the…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/) / [Opening, part 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/20/) / 19

# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 20, sentence 19

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was the custom at that time for opposing armies to watch when a champion from each side should engage in a duel, and so the armies of Shiku and Korkwi had stood awaiting the result.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** speed, time, champion, armies · **What happens:** be, oppose, watch, engage, stand, await · **To what, where:** custom, armies, duel, result

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (speed, time, champion, armies), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg65965:20:19
# text = It was the custom at that time for opposing armies to watch when a champion from each side should engage in a duel, and so the armies of Shiku and Korkwi had stood awaiting the result.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	opposing	oppose	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
10	armies	army	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	watch	watch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
13	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	champion	champion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
16	from	from	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	18	det	_	_
18	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
19	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	engage	engage	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	duel	duel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
26	so	so	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	armies	army	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nsubj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	Shiku	Shiku	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	Korkwi	Korkwi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	_
33	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	stood	stand	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	acl	_	_
35	awaiting	await	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	34	xcomp	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	result	result	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | speed | the custom |  |  | time |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **oppose** | gerund | that time *not said here* | armies |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **watch** | to-infinitive | that time *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **engage** | should | a champion from each side |  |  |  |  | in a duel *goal* | vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent in duel=Goal |
| 5 | **stand** | past · perfect | the armies of Shiku and Korkwi | the custom *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **await** | gerund | the armies of Shiku and Korkwi *not said here* | the result |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/20/18/)
- next →: [sentence 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/20/20/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/20/)