---
title: While thus engaged he saw the serpent, whose escape he had aided, gl… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: While thus engaged he saw the serpent, whose escape he had aided, gliding towards him, carrying in its mouth a stone of three colors, white, black, and red. Who acts: Guido, serpent. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 6, with its
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 6, sentence 54

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While thus engaged he saw the serpent, whose escape he had aided, gliding towards him, carrying in its mouth a stone of three colors, white, black, and red.

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**Who acts:** Guido, serpent · **What happens:** engage, see, aid, glide, carry, escape · **To what, where:** serpent, escape, stone, mouth

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This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Guido, serpent), 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:pg65965:6:55
# text = While thus engaged he saw the serpent, whose escape he had aided, gliding towards him, carrying in its mouth a stone of three colors, white, black, and red.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	engaged	engage	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	serpent	serpent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	escape	escape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	aided	aid	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	gliding	glide	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	parataxis	_	_
16	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	carrying	carry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	conj	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	27	nummod	_	_
27	colors	color	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
31	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **engage** | past | Guido *not said here* |  |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-2 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **see** | past | Guido | the serpent |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer serpent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **aid** | past · perfect | Guido | the serpent's escape *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent escape=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **glide** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | towards Guido | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme towards he=Destination |
| 5 | **carry** | gerund |  | a stone of three colors |  | escape's mouth |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent stone=Value in mouth=Location |
| 6 | **escape** |  | the serpent |  |  |  |  |  | nom escape «act intransitive»: 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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