---
title: But this was not the hardest thing that happened to him; for his nos… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: But this was not the hardest thing that happened to him; for his nose, which the boy had pulled, began to grow. Who acts: this, hardest thing. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 7, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 7, sentence 11

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But this was not the hardest thing that happened to him; for his nose, which the boy had pulled, began to grow.

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**Who acts:** this, hardest thing · **What happens:** not be, happen, pull, begin, grow · **To what, where:** hardest thing, Chô, nose

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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 (this, hardest thing), 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:pg65965:7:11
# text = But this was not the hardest thing that happened to him; for his nose, which the boy had pulled, began to grow.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	hardest	hard	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	amod	_	_
7	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
9	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	nose	nose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
20	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	pulled	pull	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** | past | this | the hardest thing |  |  |  | Chô's nose *appos* | tree rules |
| 2 | **happen** | past | the hardest thing |  | Chô |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **pull** | past · perfect · passive |  | Chô's nose |  |  |  | the boy *nsubj:pass* | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **begin** | past | this *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **grow** | to-infinitive | this *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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