---
title: But she gave him a box containing six white seeds, one of which he w… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: But she gave him a box containing six white seeds, one of which he was to cast into each brook as he passed it on his return journey, and it would then expand into a river again. Who acts: mother, box, Pei, brook. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Cous
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 25, sentence 94

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But she gave him a box containing six white seeds, one of which he was to cast into each brook as he passed it on his return journey, and it would then expand into a river again.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** mother, box, Pei, brook · **What happens:** give, contain, be, pass, expand, journey · **To what, where:** box, Pei, six white seeds, brook, return journey, river

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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 (mother, box, Pei, brook), 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:pg65965:25:95
# text = But she gave him a box containing six white seeds, one of which he was to cast into each brook as he passed it on his return journey, and it would then expand into a river again.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	iobj	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	box	box	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	containing	contain	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
8	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
9	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	seeds	seed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	appos	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	obl	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	cast	cast	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	acl:relcl	_	_
19	into	into	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	21	det	_	_
21	brook	brook	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
28	return	return	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
29	journey	journey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
33	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
34	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	35	advmod	_	_
35	expand	expand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
36	into	into	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
39	again	again	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past | mother | a box | Pei |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient box=Theme |
| 2 | **contain** | gerund | a box *not said here* | six white seeds |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot seed=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | Pei |  |  | each brook |  | which *obl*; cast *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **pass** | past | Pei | box |  | Pei's return journey |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent it=Theme on journey=Destination |
| 5 | **expand** | would | brook |  |  | a river | then; again |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **journey** |  | Pei |  |  |  |  |  | nom journey «act transitive»: poss=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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