---
title: “The Cat then begged the Vulture to listen to what he had to say, an… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: “The Cat then begged the Vulture to listen to what he had to say, and afterward decide whether he should live or die. Who acts: Cat. 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 every claus
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 7, sentence 88

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“The Cat then begged the Vulture to listen to what he had to say, and afterward decide whether he should live or die.

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**Who acts:** Cat · **What happens:** beg, listen, have, say, decide, live · **To what, where:** Vulture · **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 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Cat), 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:pg65965:7:90
# text = “The Cat then begged the Vulture to listen to what he had to say, and afterward decide whether he should live or die.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
5	begged	beg	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	Vulture	vulture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	listen	listen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	obl	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	afterward	afterward	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	decide	decide	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
20	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	ccomp	_	_
24	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **beg** *speech: request* *in a quote* | past | the Cat |  | the Vulture |  | then |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent vulture=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **listen** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | the Cat *not said here* |  |  |  |  | what *obl* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to what=Theme |
| 3 | **have** *in a quote* | past | Cat |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Cat *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **decide** *in a quote* | present | the Cat *not said here* |  |  |  |  | afterward *property* | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **live** *in a quote* | should | Cat |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **die** *in a quote* | infinitive | Cat *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

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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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