---
title: Once upon a time, so very long ago that even the great-grandfathers… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: Once upon a time, so very long ago that even the great-grandfathers of our great-grandmothers had not been born, there lived in the city of Kwen-lu a little Chinese boy named Pei-Hang. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 25, with 
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 25, sentence 16

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Once upon a time, so very long ago that even the great-grandfathers of our great-grandmothers had not been born, there lived in the city of Kwen-lu a little Chinese boy named Pei-Hang.

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**What happens:** not bear, live, name · **To what, where:** great grandfathers, city, little Chinese boy

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This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 25. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg65965:25:17
# text = Once upon a time, so very long ago that even the great-grandfathers of our great-grandmothers had not been born, there lived in the city of Kwen-lu a little Chinese boy named Pei-Hang.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	27	advmod	_	_
2	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	9	advmod	_	_
9	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
11	even	even	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	grandfathers	grandfather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
17	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
18	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	grandmothers	grandmother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	_
21	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
23	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
26	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	27	expl	_	_
27	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	Kwen	Kwen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	lu	lu	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	32	dep	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
36	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
37	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
39	named	name	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	38	acl	_	_
40	Pei	Pei	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	42	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	Hang	Hang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **bear** | past · perfect · passive |  | the great grandfathers of our great grandmothers |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **live** | past |  |  |  | the city; there |  | ago, once *property* | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in city=Location |
| 3 | **name** | participle |  | a little Chinese boy *not said here* |  |  |  | Pei  Hang *xcomp* | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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- ↑ back to [Opening, part 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/25/)