--- title: “My mother used to say that when a boy is born, the Moon Fairy ties… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics description: “My mother used to say that when a boy is born, the Moon Fairy ties an invisible red cord around his right foot, and the other end of the cord encircles the foot of the girl-baby whom he is to marry,” said he. Who acts: mother, Moon Fairy, other end, end. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/25/46/) [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 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/25/) / 46 # The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 25, sentence 46 “My mother used to say that when a boy is born, the Moon Fairy ties an invisible red cord around his right foot, and the other end of the cord encircles the foot of the girl-baby whom he is to marry,” said he. **Who acts:** mother, Moon Fairy, other end, end · **What happens:** use, say, bear, tie, encircle, be · **To what, where:** boy, invisible red cord, right foot, foot · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (mother, Moon Fairy, other end, end), 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:pg65965:25:47 # text = “My mother used to say that when a boy is born, the Moon Fairy ties an invisible red cord around his right foot, and the other end of the cord encircles the foot of the girl-baby whom he is to marry,” said he. 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 My my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 3 nmod:poss _ _ 3 mother mother NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 used use VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 49 ccomp _ _ 5 to to PART TO _ 6 mark _ _ 6 say say VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 xcomp _ _ 7 that that SCONJ IN _ 12 mark _ _ 8 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 12 advmod _ _ 9 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 nsubj:pass _ _ 11 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 12 aux:pass _ _ 12 born bear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 6 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 15 Moon Moon PROPN NNP Number=Sing 16 compound _ _ 16 Fairy Fairy PROPN NNP Number=Sing 17 nsubj _ _ 17 ties tie VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 12 conj _ _ 18 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 19 invisible invisible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 20 red red ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 21 cord cord NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obj _ _ 22 around around ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 23 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 25 nmod:poss _ _ 24 right right ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 25 foot foot NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 27 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 29 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 amod _ _ 30 end end NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nsubj _ _ 31 of of ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 cord cord NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nmod _ _ 34 encircles encircle VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 49 ccomp _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 foot foot NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obj _ _ 37 of of ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 39 girl girl NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 40 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 39 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 baby baby NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nmod _ _ 42 whom whom PRON WP PronType=Rel 46 obj _ _ 43 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 46 nsubj _ _ 44 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 46 cop _ _ 45 to to PART TO _ 46 mark _ _ 46 marry marry VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 41 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 48 ” " PUNCT '' _ 34 punct _ _ 49 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 50 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 49 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 49 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **use** *in a quote* | past | My mother | | | | | | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | to-infinitive | My mother *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **bear** *in a quote* | present · passive | | a boy | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | | 4 | **tie** *in a quote* | present | the Moon Fairy | a invisible red cord | | Fairy's right foot | | | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cord=Patient | | 5 | **encircle** *in a quote* | present | the other end of the cord | the foot of the girl baby | | | | | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme foot=Co-Theme | | 6 | **is** *in a quote* | present | end | | | | | the girl baby *obj*; marry *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | end | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | 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 45](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/25/45/) - next →: [sentence 47](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/25/47/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/25/)