---
title: But he threw a red seed into the river, and in a moment it had becom… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: But he threw a red seed into the river, and in a moment it had become a little brook, across which he could hop on one foot, and the huge fishes were changed into tadpoles. Who acts: Pei, head. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 25, sentence 98

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But he threw a red seed into the river, and in a moment it had become a little brook, across which he could hop on one foot, and the huge fishes were changed into tadpoles.

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**Who acts:** Pei, head · **What happens:** throw, become, hop, change · **To what, where:** red seed, river, little brook, one foot, huge fishes

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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, head), 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:pg65965:25:99
# text = But he threw a red seed into the river, and in a moment it had become a little brook, across which he could hop on one foot, and the huge fishes were changed into tadpoles.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	seed	seed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	into	into	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	brook	brook	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
22	across	across	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	obl	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	hop	hop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	_
27	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	29	nummod	_	_
29	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	fishes	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nsubj	_	_
35	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux:pass	_	_
36	changed	change	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
37	into	into	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	tadpoles	tadpole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **throw** | past | Pei | a red seed |  |  |  | into the river *result* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer seed=Theme into river=Result |
| 2 | **become** | past · perfect | head | a little brook |  |  | moment |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **hop** | could | Pei |  |  | one foot |  | which *obl* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme across which=Trajectory |
| 4 | **change** | past · passive |  | the huge fishes |  |  |  | into tadpoles *result* | vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: subject=Patient into tadpole=Result |

<!-- .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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