---
title: And be sure that any selfish desire you may have, even if it be gran… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: And be sure that any selfish desire you may have, even if it be granted, will never bring you happiness.” Who acts: you, selfish. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 8, sentence 116

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And be sure that any selfish desire you may have, even if it be granted, will never bring you happiness.”

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**Who acts:** you, selfish · **What happens:** be, desire, have, grant, not bring · **To what, where:** thing, happiness, you

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This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, selfish), 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:pg65965:8:118
# text = And be sure that any selfish desire you may have, even if it be granted, will never bring you happiness.”
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	cop	_	_
3	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	selfish	selfish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	desire	desire	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	even	even	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
13	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	granted	grant	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
18	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
20	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
21	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	happiness	happiness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **desire** | present | any selfish |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **have** | may | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **grant** *a condition, not said to happen* | infinitive · passive |  | thing |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **bring** | future | you *not said here* | happiness | you |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent you=Destination happiness=Theme |

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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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