---
title: It was foolish for the tortoise to have come so far from home, espec… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: It was foolish for the tortoise to have come so far from home, especially to a place so dangerous as this, because it surely would not be very long before the hunter returned, and his presence there caused the goat to say: “My dear friend, I am sorry to have been the cause of bringing you here, for 
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 22, sentence 1

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It was foolish for the tortoise to have come so far from home, especially to a place so dangerous as this, because it surely would not be very long before the hunter returned, and his presence there caused the goat to say: “My dear friend, I am sorry to have been the cause of bringing you here, for if the hunter should come, how could you escape?

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**Who acts:** It, tortoise, hunter, presence, dear friend, cause · **What happens:** be, come, not be, return, cause, say · **To what, where:** home, goat, cause, you · **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 22. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, tortoise, hunter, presence), 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:pg65965:22:1
# text = It was foolish for the tortoise to have come so far from home, especially to a place so dangerous as this, because it surely would not be very long before the hunter returned, and his presence there caused the goat to say: “My dear friend, I am sorry to have been the cause of bringing you here, for if the hunter should come, how could you escape?
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
8	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	aux	_	_
9	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	13	advmod	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	especially	especially	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	dangerous	dangerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
21	as	as	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	surely	surely	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
29	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	cop	_	_
30	very	very	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	27	advmod	_	_
32	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	hunter	hunter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
35	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
38	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	presence	presence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
40	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	41	advmod	_	_
41	caused	cause	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	45	mark	_	_
45	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	54	punct	_	_
47	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	54	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
49	dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
50	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
52	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
53	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	54	cop	_	_
54	sorry	sorry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
55	to	to	PART	TO	_	59	mark	_	_
56	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	59	aux	_	_
57	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	59	cop	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	parataxis	_	_
60	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	61	mark	_	_
61	bringing	bring	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	59	acl	_	_
62	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	61	obj	_	_
63	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	61	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	70	punct	_	_
65	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	70	mark	_	_
66	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	70	mark	_	_
67	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	68	det	_	_
68	hunter	hunter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	70	nsubj	_	_
69	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	70	aux	_	_
70	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	59	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	75	punct	_	_
72	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	75	advmod	_	_
73	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	75	aux	_	_
74	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	75	nsubj	_	_
75	escape	escape	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	70	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
76	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would · past | It |  |  |  |  | a place *parataxis*; foolish *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **come** | to-infinitive · perfect | the tortoise |  |  | home |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from home=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **not** **is** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **return** | past | the hunter |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **cause** | past | hunter's presence | the goat |  | there |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **say** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive | hunter's presence *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is** *in a quote* | present | My dear friend |  |  |  |  | I *nsubj*; sorry *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **is a** *in a quote* | to-infinitive · perfect |  | the cause |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **bring** *in a quote* | gerund | the cause *not said here* |  | you | here |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument you=Destination |
| 10 | **come** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | should | the hunter |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 11 | **escape** *in a quote* | could | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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