---
title: Many years ago there lived a poor old bamboo-cutter, whose great sor… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: Many years ago there lived a poor old bamboo-cutter, whose great sorrow it was that Heaven had sent no child to cheer his wife and himself in their old age. Who acts: poor old bamboo cutter. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 4, 
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 4, sentence 95

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Many years ago there lived a poor old bamboo-cutter, whose great sorrow it was that Heaven had sent no child to cheer his wife and himself in their old age.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** poor old bamboo cutter · **What happens:** live, send, cheer, sorrow · **To what, where:** poor old bamboo cutter, cutter, wife, old age

<!-- .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 (poor old bamboo cutter), 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:pg65965:4:96
# text = Many years ago there lived a poor old bamboo-cutter, whose great sorrow it was that Heaven had sent no child to cheer his wife and himself in their old age.
1	Many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
5	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
7	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
9	bamboo	bamboo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	cutter	cutter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	15	nmod:poss	_	_
14	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	sorrow	sorrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	appos	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux:pass	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
19	Heaven	Heaven	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
20	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	acl:relcl	_	_
22	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	23	det	_	_
23	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	cheer	cheer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	acl	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	27	conj	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
32	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | past |  | a poor old bamboo cutter |  | there | year |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme cutter=Location |
| 2 | **send** | past · perfect · passive |  | cutter |  |  |  | Heaven *nsubj*; no child *obj* | tree rules |
| 3 | **cheer** | to-infinitive |  | Heaven's wife  Heaven |  |  | in children's old age |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus wife=Experiencer |
| 4 | **sorrow** |  | a poor old bamboo cutter |  |  |  |  |  | nom sorrow «feeling intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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