---
title: “He is four times her age, it is true,” said her mother, explaining… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: “He is four times her age, it is true,” said her mother, explaining this to Pei-Hang, “but he is very rich.” Who acts: Yun, four times, mother. 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
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 25, sentence 70

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“He is four times her age, it is true,” said her mother, explaining this to Pei-Hang, “but he is very rich.”

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**Who acts:** Yun, four times, mother · **What happens:** be, say, explain · **To what, where:** four times, this, Pei · **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 (Yun, four times, mother), 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:pg65965:25:71
# text = “He is four times her age, it is true,” said her mother, explaining this to Pei-Hang, “but he is very rich.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
6	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
14	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	explaining	explain	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
19	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	18	obj	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	Pei	Pei	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	Hang	Hang	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
25	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
28	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
29	very	very	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | Yun | four times |  |  | Ying's age |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | four times |  |  |  | age | true *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Ying's mother |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **explain** *speech: assert* | gerund | Ying's mother *not said here* | this | Pei and Hang |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent this=Topic to pei=Recipient |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | Yun | Pei and Hang *not said here* |  |  |  | rich *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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