---
title: The children wouldn’t believe him when he declared that he had touch… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: The children wouldn’t believe him when he declared that he had touched neither the stone nor the bag, and they shouted and jeered at him. Who acts: children, Chô. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 7, with its dependency tree and
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 7, sentence 10

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The children wouldn’t believe him when he declared that he had touched neither the stone nor the bag, and they shouted and jeered at him.

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**Who acts:** children, Chô · **What happens:** not believe, declare, touch, shout, jeer · **To what, where:** Chô, stone

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This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (children, Chô), 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:pg65965:7:10
# text = The children wouldn’t believe him when he declared that he had touched neither the stone nor the bag, and they shouted and jeered at him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	declared	declare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
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	touched	touch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
14	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	16	cc:preconj	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	19	cc	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	bag	bag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	shouted	shout	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	jeered	jeer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
26	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **believe** | would | the children | Chô |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 2 | **declare** *speech: other* | past | Chô |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **touch** | past · perfect | Chô | the stone nor the bag |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme stone=Co-Theme |
| 4 | **shout** *speech: express* | past | children *= child* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **jeer** | past | children *= child* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at Chô | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=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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