---
title: There were many thousands of them, so that it would have been imposs… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: There were many thousands of them, so that it would have been impossible for anyone to walk through their ranks, but they had not thought that an attempt to reach the spot could be made from above. Who acts: many thousands, circle. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penr
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/4/62/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/4/) / 62

# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 4, sentence 62

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There were many thousands of them, so that it would have been impossible for anyone to walk through their ranks, but they had not thought that an attempt to reach the spot could be made from above.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** many thousands, circle · **What happens:** be, walk, not think, reach, make · **To what, where:** ranks, trees, spot, attempt

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (many thousands, circle), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg65965:4:62
# text = There were many thousands of them, so that it would have been impossible for anyone to walk through their ranks, but they had not thought that an attempt to reach the spot could be made from above.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	thousands	thousand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
11	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
12	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	aux	_	_
13	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	cop	_	_
14	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	14	obl	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	walk	walk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	_
19	through	through	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	ranks	rank	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	thought	think	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
29	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	attempt	attempt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	acl	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
36	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	aux:pass	_	_
37	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	advcl	_	_
38	from	from	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	above	above	ADV	RB	_	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | many thousands of trees |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | would · perfect | circle |  |  |  |  | for anyone; impossible *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **walk** | to-infinitive | circle *not said here* |  |  | trees's ranks |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through rank=Trajectory |
| 4 | **not** **think** *speech: other* | past · perfect · passive |  | trees *= tree* |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **reach** | to-infinitive |  | the spot |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent spot=Theme |
| 6 | **make** | could · passive |  | a attempt |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V PP»: subject=Product from above=Material |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 61](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/4/61/)
- next →: [sentence 63](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/4/63/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/4/)