---
title: No sooner had he heard this than he was seized with a great desire t… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: No sooner had he heard this than he was seized with a great desire to go in search of his father and mother and uncles, and if he could find them alive to bring them home again. Who acts: Balna. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 4, sentence 9

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No sooner had he heard this than he was seized with a great desire to go in search of his father and mother and uncles, and if he could find them alive to bring them home again.

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**Who acts:** Balna · **What happens:** have, hear, seize, go, find, bring · **To what, where:** this, Balna, search, uncles, father · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Balna), 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:pg65965:4:9
# text = No sooner had he heard this than he was seized with a great desire to go in search of his father and mother and uncles, and if he could find them alive to bring them home again.
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	2	det	_	_
2	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
6	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	obj	_	_
7	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	seized	seize	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	ccomp	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	desire	desire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	search	search	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	conj	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	uncles	uncle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
28	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
32	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	xcomp	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	advcl	_	_
36	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	_
37	home	home	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
38	again	again	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past |  |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **hear** | past | Balna | this |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **seize** | past · passive |  | Balna |  |  |  | with a great desire | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **go** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | search of Balna's father and mother and uncles |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in search=Location |
| 5 | **find** *a condition, not said to happen* | could | Balna | uncles *= uncle* |  |  |  | alive *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Topic |
| 6 | **bring** | to-infinitive | Balna *not said here* | uncles *= uncle* |  |  | again | home *property* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 7 | **search** |  |  | Balna's father and mother and uncles |  |  |  |  | nom search «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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