---
title: This time they asked the old man to tell them if the Princess was de… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: This time they asked the old man to tell them if the Princess was determined to never see any men. Who acts: knights, Princess. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 5, sentence 11

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This time they asked the old man to tell them if the Princess was determined to never see any men.

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**Who acts:** knights, Princess · **What happens:** ask, tell, be, not see · **To what, where:** old man, knights, men · **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 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (knights, Princess), 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:pg65965:5:11
# text = This time they asked the old man to tell them if the Princess was determined to never see any men.
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	iobj	_	_
11	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	determined	determined	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	ccomp	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
17	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
18	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
19	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	20	det	_	_
20	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | knights *= knight* |  | the old man |  | time |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent man=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | knights *= knight* *not said here* |  | knights *= knight* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the Princess |  |  |  |  | determined *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **see** | to-infinitive | the Princess *not said here* | any men |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer man=Stimulus |

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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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