---
title: But the only reply the boy made was to break off one of its wings, a… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: But the only reply the boy made was to break off one of its wings, and as he did so the Magician’s right arm fell off. Who acts: only reply, boy, right arm. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 4, sentence 84

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But the only reply the boy made was to break off one of its wings, and as he did so the Magician’s right arm fell off.

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**Who acts:** only reply, boy, right arm · **What happens:** make, be, do, fall off

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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 (only reply, boy, right arm), 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:pg65965:4:84
# text = But the only reply the boy made was to break off one of its wings, and as he did so the Magician’s right arm fell off.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	reply	reply	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
11	off	off	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	obj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
21	so	so	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	Magician	magician	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	’s	's	PART	POS	_	23	case	_	_
25	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
28	off	off	ADP	RP	_	27	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | the only reply |  |  |  |  | the boy *nsubj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | the only reply *not said here* |  |  |  |  | one of reply's wings *obj*; break *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **do** | past | boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **fall off** | past | the Magician's right arm |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

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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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