---
title: They begged him to say that their love for her was boundless, and as… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: They begged him to say that their love for her was boundless, and ask for an opportunity to plead their cause. Who acts: knights, love. 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 cl
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 5, sentence 12

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They begged him to say that their love for her was boundless, and ask for an opportunity to plead their cause.

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**Who acts:** knights, love · **What happens:** beg, say, be, ask, plead, love · **To what, where:** man, cause · **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, love), 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:pg65965:5:12
# text = They begged him to say that their love for her was boundless, and ask for an opportunity to plead their cause.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	love	love	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nmod	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	boundless	boundless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	opportunity	opportunity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	plead	plead	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	acl	_	_
21	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | knights *= knight* |  | man |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | knights *= knight* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | knights's love for Princess |  |  |  |  | boundless *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | infinitive | knights *= knight* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for a opportunity | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **plead** *speech: request* | to-infinitive | knights *= knight* *not said here* | knights's cause |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **love** |  | knights *= knight* |  |  |  |  | for Princess | nom love «feeling transitive»: poss=agent for=obl |
| 7 | **cause** |  | knights *= knight* |  |  |  |  |  | nom cause «event transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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