--- title: He struck a light, and set the grass on fire, and it was so dry that… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics description: He struck a light, and set the grass on fire, and it was so dry that the flames spread all around the entrance to the cave, and made such a smoke and crackling that the sky-dragon put his head out to see what was the matter. Who acts: Wang, grass, flames, sky dragon. A sentence of «The Jade Story Bo --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/23/29/) [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 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/23/) / 29 # The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 23, sentence 29 He struck a light, and set the grass on fire, and it was so dry that the flames spread all around the entrance to the cave, and made such a smoke and crackling that the sky-dragon put his head out to see what was the matter. **Who acts:** Wang, grass, flames, sky dragon · **What happens:** strike, set, be, spread, make, crackle · **To what, where:** light, grass, fire, entrance, smoke, head · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 23. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Wang, grass, flames, sky dragon), 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:pg65965:23:29 # text = He struck a light, and set the grass on fire, and it was so dry that the flames spread all around the entrance to the cave, and made such a smoke and crackling that the sky-dragon put his head out to see what was the matter. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 struck strike VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 light light NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 6 and and CCONJ CC _ 7 cc _ _ 7 set set VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 advcl _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 grass grass NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ _ 10 on on ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 11 fire fire NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 14 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 15 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 cop _ _ 16 so so ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 17 dry dry ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 2 parataxis _ _ 18 that that SCONJ IN _ 21 mark _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 flames flame NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 nsubj _ _ 21 spread spread VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 17 advcl _ _ 22 all all ADV RB _ 25 advmod _ _ 23 around around ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 entrance entrance NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obj _ _ 26 to to ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 cave cave NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 31 made make VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 32 such such DET PDT PronType=Ind 34 det:predet _ _ 33 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 smoke smoke NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obj _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 36 crackling crackle VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 31 conj _ _ 37 that that SCONJ IN _ 42 mark _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 39 sky sky NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 40 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 39 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 dragon dragon NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 nsubj _ _ 42 put put VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 advcl _ _ 43 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 44 nmod:poss _ _ 44 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obj _ _ 45 out out ADV RB _ 42 advmod _ _ 46 to to PART TO _ 47 mark _ _ 47 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 42 advcl _ _ 48 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 51 nsubj _ _ 49 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 51 cop _ _ 50 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 51 det _ _ 51 matter matter NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 52 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **strike** | past | Wang | a light | | | | | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent light=Patient | | 2 | **set** | infinitive | Wang *not said here* | the grass | | fire | | | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent grass=Theme on fire=Destination | | 3 | **is** | past | grass | | | | | dry *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **spread** | present | the flames | the entrance | | | | to the cave | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location entrance=Theme | | 5 | **make** | past | | such smoke | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset smoke=Product | | 6 | **crackle** | gerund | | | | | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **put out** | past | the sky dragon | Wang's head | | | | out *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent head=Goal | | 8 | **see** | to-infinitive | the sky dragon *not said here* | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 9 | **is a** | past | | the matter | | | | what *nsubj* | 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 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/23/28/) - next →: [sentence 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/23/30/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/23/)