--- title: Balna saw the girl watching them, and said to her sisters: “Let us d… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics description: Balna saw the girl watching them, and said to her sisters: “Let us drive that girl away, or else she will tell her mother all about it, and then we shall be worse off than ever.” Who acts: Balna, girl, us, we. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/3/54/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Jade Story Book; Stories from the…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/) / [Opening, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/3/) / 54 # The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 3, sentence 54 Balna saw the girl watching them, and said to her sisters: “Let us drive that girl away, or else she will tell her mother all about it, and then we shall be worse off than ever.” **Who acts:** Balna, girl, us, we · **What happens:** see, watch, say, let, drive away, tell · **To what, where:** girl, girls, sisters, us, mother · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (Balna, girl, us, we), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg65965:3:55 # text = Balna saw the girl watching them, and said to her sisters: “Let us drive that girl away, or else she will tell her mother all about it, and then we shall be worse off than ever.” 1 Balna Balna PROPN NNP Number=Sing 2 nsubj _ _ 2 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 girl girl NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obj _ _ 5 watching watch VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 4 acl _ _ 6 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 8 and and CCONJ CC _ 9 cc _ _ 9 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 10 to to ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 12 nmod:poss _ _ 12 sisters sister NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 : : PUNCT : _ 15 punct _ _ 14 “ " PUNCT `` _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 Let let VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 ccomp _ _ 16 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 15 obj _ _ 17 drive drive VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 xcomp _ _ 18 that that SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 19 girl girl NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 advcl _ _ 20 away away ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 22 or or CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 23 else else ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 24 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 25 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 26 aux _ _ 26 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 conj _ _ 27 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 28 nmod:poss _ _ 28 mother mother NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ _ 29 all all ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 30 about about ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 31 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 34 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 38 advmod _ _ 35 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 36 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 38 aux _ _ 37 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 38 cop _ _ 38 worse bad ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 2 conj _ _ 39 off off ADP RP _ 38 compound:prt _ _ 40 than than ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 41 ever ever ADV RB PronType=Ind 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 43 ” " PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **see** | past | Balna | the girl | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer girl=Stimulus | | 2 | **watch** | gerund | the girl *not said here* | girls *= girl* | | | | | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Balna *not said here* | | Balna's sisters | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to sister=Recipient clause=Topic | | 4 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive | | us | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **drive away** *in a quote* | infinitive | us *not said here* | | | | | girl *advcl*; away *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | future | Balna | | Balna's mother | | | about tree; all, else *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent mother=Recipient about it=Topic | | 7 | **is** *in a quote* | shall | we | | | | then | bad *property* | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/3/53/) - next →: [sentence 55](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/3/55/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/3/)