---
title: Then the crow said: “Tears and lamentations will not help our poor f… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the crow said: “Tears and lamentations will not help our poor friend, so let us devise means of saving him. Who acts: crow, Tears, us. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 22, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 22, sentence 12

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Then the crow said: “Tears and lamentations will not help our poor friend, so let us devise means of saving him.

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**Who acts:** crow, Tears, us · **What happens:** say, not help, let, devise, mean, save · **To what, where:** poor friend, us, friend · **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 (crow, Tears, us), 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:pg65965:22:12
# text = Then the crow said: “Tears and lamentations will not help our poor friend, so let us devise means of saving him.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	crow	crow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	lamentations	lamentation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	_
10	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	nsubj	_	_
13	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
14	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	so	so	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
19	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	devise	devise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
22	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
23	saving	save	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	21	ccomp	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the crow |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **help** *in a quote* | future | Tears and lamentations |  | our poor friend |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent friend=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive | Tears and lamentations *not said here* | us |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **devise** *in a quote* | infinitive | us *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **mean** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **save** *in a quote* | gerund |  | friend |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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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