---
title: As soon as they were old enough, the Rajah’s daughters took turns ev… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: As soon as they were old enough, the Rajah’s daughters took turns every day to cook their father’s dinner, while he was busily engaged with his ministers in directing the affairs of his country. Who acts: daughters. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Co
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 3, sentence 29

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As soon as they were old enough, the Rajah’s daughters took turns every day to cook their father’s dinner, while he was busily engaged with his ministers in directing the affairs of his country.

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**Who acts:** daughters · **What happens:** be, take, cook, engage, direct · **To what, where:** turns, dinner, Rajah, affairs

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This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (daughters), 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:pg65965:3:30
# text = As soon as they were old enough, the Rajah’s daughters took turns every day to cook their father’s dinner, while he was busily engaged with his ministers in directing the affairs of his country.
1	As	as	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	13	advmod	_	_
3	as	as	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
7	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Rajah	Rajah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	’s	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	daughters	daughter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
13	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	turns	turn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
15	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	16	det	_	_
16	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl:unmarked	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	cook	cook	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	’s	's	PART	POS	_	20	case	_	_
22	dinner	dinner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux:pass	_	_
27	busily	busily	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	engaged	engage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	conj	_	_
29	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	ministers	minister	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	_
32	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
33	directing	direct	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	28	advcl	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	affairs	affair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obj	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | daughters *= daughter* |  |  |  |  | enough, old *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** | past | the Rajah's daughters | turns |  |  | day | soon *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent turn=Theme |
| 3 | **cook** | to-infinitive | the Rajah's daughters *not said here* | daughters's father's dinner |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent dinner=Patient |
| 4 | **engage** | past · passive |  | Rajah |  |  |  | with Rajah's ministers; busily *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **direct** | gerund |  | the affairs of Rajah's country |  |  |  |  | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: agent=Agent affair=Eventuality |

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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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