--- title: On one corner of the slab lay a heap of small brown objects which Wa… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics description: On one corner of the slab lay a heap of small brown objects which Wang Chih took at first to be date stones; but after a time the chess-players ate one each, and put one in Wang Chih’s mouth, and he found it was not a date stone at all. Who acts: Wang, chess players, slab. A sentence of «The Jade St --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/22/90/) [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 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/22/) / 90 # The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 22, sentence 90 On one corner of the slab lay a heap of small brown objects which Wang Chih took at first to be date stones; but after a time the chess-players ate one each, and put one in Wang Chih’s mouth, and he found it was not a date stone at all. **Who acts:** Wang, chess players, slab · **What happens:** lie, take, be, eat, put, find · **To what, where:** heap, one corner, small brown objects, date stones, one, mouth · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (Wang, chess players, slab), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg65965:22:92 # text = On one corner of the slab lay a heap of small brown objects which Wang Chih took at first to be date stones; but after a time the chess-players ate one each, and put one in Wang Chih’s mouth, and he found it was not a date stone at all. 1 On on ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 3 nummod _ _ 3 corner corner NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 slab slab NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nmod _ _ 7 lay lie VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 8 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 heap heap NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ _ 10 of of ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 11 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 12 brown brown ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 13 objects object NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 nmod _ _ 14 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 17 obj _ _ 15 Wang Wang PROPN NNP Number=Sing 17 nsubj _ _ 16 Chih Chih PROPN NNP Number=Sing 15 flat _ _ 17 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 acl:relcl _ _ 18 at at ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 19 first first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 17 obl _ _ 20 to to PART TO _ 23 mark _ _ 21 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 23 cop _ _ 22 date date NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 compound _ _ 23 stones stone NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 ; ; PUNCT : _ 33 punct _ _ 25 but but CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 26 after after ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 30 chess chess NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 31 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 30 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 32 players player NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 nsubj _ _ 33 ate eat VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 parataxis _ _ 34 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 33 obj _ _ 35 each each DET DT PronType=Tot 34 nmod:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 37 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 38 put put VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 33 conj _ _ 39 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 38 obj _ _ 40 in in ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 41 Wang Wang PROPN NNP Number=Sing 44 nmod:poss _ _ 42 Chih Chih PROPN NNP Number=Sing 41 flat _ SpaceAfter=No 43 ’s 's PART POS _ 41 case _ _ 44 mouth mouth NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 45 , , PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ _ 46 and and CCONJ CC _ 48 cc _ _ 47 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 48 nsubj _ _ 48 found find VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ _ 49 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 54 nsubj _ _ 50 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 54 cop _ _ 51 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 54 advmod _ _ 52 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 54 det _ _ 53 date date NOUN NN Number=Sing 54 compound _ _ 54 stone stone NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 ccomp _ _ 55 at at ADP IN _ 56 case _ _ 56 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 54 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 57 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **lie** | past | | a heap of small brown objects | | one corner of the slab | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location heap=Theme | | 2 | **take** | past | Wang | small brown objects | | | | | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent which=Theme at first=Asset | | 3 | **is a** | to-infinitive | Wang *not said here* | date stones | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **eat** | past | the chess players | one each | | | time | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Patient | | 5 | **put** | infinitive | the chess players *not said here* | one | | Wang's mouth | | | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent one=Theme in mouth=Destination | | 6 | **find** | past | Wang | | | | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **not** **is a** | past | slab | a date stone | | all | | | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 89](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/22/89/) - next →: [sentence 91](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/22/91/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/22/)