---
title: When he was twenty, Pin-Too said he could not teach him any more, an… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: When he was twenty, Pin-Too said he could not teach him any more, and told him to go back to his parents, and comfort them in their old age. Who acts: Pei, Pin. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 25, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 25, sentence 29

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When he was twenty, Pin-Too said he could not teach him any more, and told him to go back to his parents, and comfort them in their old age.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Pei, Pin · **What happens:** be, say, not teach, tell, go back, comfort · **To what, where:** twenty, Pin, Pei, parents, old age · **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 25. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Pei, Pin), 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:pg65965:25:30
# text = When he was twenty, Pin-Too said he could not teach him any more, and told him to go back to his parents, and comfort them in their old age.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	Pin	Pin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	Too	too	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	teach	teach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	any	any	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	iobj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
23	back	back	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	comfort	comfort	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
30	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
33	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Pei | twenty |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Pin |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **teach** *speech: other* | could | Pei |  | Pin |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Pin *not said here* |  | Pei |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **go back** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Pin *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to Pei's parents *result* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to parent=Result |
| 6 | **comfort** | infinitive | Pin *not said here* | parents *= parent* |  |  | in parents's old age |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer |

<!-- .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/)