---
title: When he tried to do things, he made such dreadful mistakes that he m… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: When he tried to do things, he made such dreadful mistakes that he might better not have tried. Who acts: JUAN. 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 every clause.
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 22, sentence 27

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When he tried to do things, he made such dreadful mistakes that he might better not have tried.

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**Who acts:** JUAN · **What happens:** try, do, make, not try · **To what, where:** things, such dreadful mistakes

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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 (JUAN), 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:pg65965:22:28
# text = When he tried to do things, he made such dreadful mistakes that he might better not have tried.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
11	dreadful	dreadful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	mistakes	mistake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
15	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
16	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	19	advmod	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
18	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	aux	_	_
19	tried	try	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | JUAN |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | JUAN *not said here* | things |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality |
| 3 | **make** | past | JUAN | such dreadful mistakes |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mistake=Product |
| 4 | **not** **try** | might · perfect | JUAN |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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