---
title: He assumed a most dejected look, and appeared to be so miserable tha… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: He assumed a most dejected look, and appeared to be so miserable that a Crab, who had been watching him, asked him why he was so down-hearted. Who acts: water, Crab. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 8, with its dependency tree 
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 8, sentence 122

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He assumed a most dejected look, and appeared to be so miserable that a Crab, who had been watching him, asked him why he was so down-hearted.

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**Who acts:** water, Crab · **What happens:** assume, deject, appear, be, watch, ask · **To what, where:** dejected look, water

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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 (water, Crab), 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:pg65965:8:125
# text = He assumed a most dejected look, and appeared to be so miserable that a Crab, who had been watching him, asked him why he was so down-hearted.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	assumed	assume	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	5	advmod	_	_
5	dejected	deject	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	amod	_	_
6	look	look	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	appeared	appear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	cop	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	miserable	miserable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	xcomp	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	Crab	Crab	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
19	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	21	aux	_	_
21	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
22	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	iobj	_	_
26	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	32	advmod	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
29	so	so	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
30	down	down	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	hearted	hearted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **assume** | past | water | a dejected look |  |  |  |  | vn adopt-93.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent look=Theme |
| 2 | **deject** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **appear** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | miserable *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **watch** | past · perfect · progressive | a Crab | water |  |  |  | who *nsubj* | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past |  |  | water |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 7 | **is** | past | water |  |  |  |  | down, hearted *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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