---
title: And they laughed until the snow-peaks shook beneath them; for the mo… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: And they laughed until the snow-peaks shook beneath them; for the mortar made of jade was six feet high and four feet wide, and the pestle was so heavy no mortal could lift it. Who acts: heads, snow peaks, mortar, pestle. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfi
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 26, sentence 13

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And they laughed until the snow-peaks shook beneath them; for the mortar made of jade was six feet high and four feet wide, and the pestle was so heavy no mortal could lift it.

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**Who acts:** heads, snow peaks, mortar, pestle, mortal · **What happens:** laugh, shake, make, be, lift · **To what, where:** mortar, four feet

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 26. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (heads, snow peaks, mortar, pestle), 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:pg65965:26:13
# text = And they laughed until the snow-peaks shook beneath them; for the mortar made of jade was six feet high and four feet wide, and the pestle was so heavy no mortal could lift it.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	peaks	peak	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	shook	shake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
10	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	mortar	mortar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
16	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	acl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	jade	jade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
20	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nummod	_	_
21	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl:unmarked	_	_
22	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	parataxis	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
24	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	25	nummod	_	_
25	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl:unmarked	_	_
26	wide	wide	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	pestle	pestle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
32	so	so	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
34	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	35	det	_	_
35	mortal	mortal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nsubj	_	_
36	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	lift	lift	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	parataxis	_	_
38	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **laugh** | past | heads *= head* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **shake** | past | the snow peaks |  |  |  |  | beneath heads *= head* | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme beneath they=Location |
| 3 | **make** | participle |  | the mortar *not said here* |  |  |  | of jade | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 4 | **is** | past | the mortar |  |  |  |  | six feet *obl:unmarked*; high *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** |  | the mortar *not said here* | four feet |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **is** | past | the pestle |  |  |  |  | heavy *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **lift** | could | no mortal | mortar |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

<!-- .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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