---
title: “What does this mean?” asked Pei-Hang, who could hardly take his eye… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: “What does this mean?” asked Pei-Hang, who could hardly take his eyes away from her face to look at her foot. Who acts: this, Pei. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 25, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 25, sentence 42

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“What does this mean?” asked Pei-Hang, who could hardly take his eyes away from her face to look at her foot.

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**Who acts:** this, Pei · **What happens:** mean, ask, take, look · **To what, where:** eyes · **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 (this, Pei), 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:pg65965:25:43
# text = “What does this mean?” asked Pei-Hang, who could hardly take his eyes away from her face to look at her foot.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
3	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	_
5	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
8	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	Pei	Pei	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	Hang	Hang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
14	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
19	away	away	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
20	from	from	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	advcl	_	_
25	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** *in a quote* | present · do-support | this |  |  |  |  | What *obj* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **take** | could | Pei  Hang | sun's eyes |  |  |  | who *nsubj*; away, hardly *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eye=Theme |
| 4 | **look** | to-infinitive | Pei  Hang *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at dream's foot | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at foot=Theme |

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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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