---
title: It was their duty now to see what could be done to help their comrad… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: It was their duty now to see what could be done to help their comrade, and at length they hit upon a plan to rescue him. Who acts: capture, FRIENDS. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 21, with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 21, sentence 118

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It was their duty now to see what could be done to help their comrade, and at length they hit upon a plan to rescue him.

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**Who acts:** capture, FRIENDS · **What happens:** be, see, do, help, hit, rescue · **To what, where:** duty, comrade, goat · **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 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (capture, FRIENDS), 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:pg65965:21:119
# text = It was their duty now to see what could be done to help their comrade, and at length they hit upon a plan to rescue him.
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	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	duty	duty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl:relcl	_	_
8	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	11	obj	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	ccomp	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	advcl	_	_
14	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	comrade	comrade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
18	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	hit	hit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
22	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	plan	plan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	rescue	rescue	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | capture | FRIENDS's duty |  |  |  | FRIENDS *= friend* *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  | now |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **do** | could · passive |  |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: what=Eventuality |
| 4 | **help** | to-infinitive |  | FRIENDS's comrade |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent comrade=Beneficiary |
| 5 | **hit** | past | FRIENDS *= friend* |  |  |  |  | upon a plan; at length | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent at length=Patient |
| 6 | **rescue** | to-infinitive | FRIENDS *= friend* *not said here* | goat |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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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