---
title: Of course he saw the rice-grains, and thought it very unusual that t… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: Of course he saw the rice-grains, and thought it very unusual that they should be lying on the ground in so lonely a spot as this was. Who acts: fowler, grains. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 8, with its dependency tree and t
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 8, sentence 7

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Of course he saw the rice-grains, and thought it very unusual that they should be lying on the ground in so lonely a spot as this was.

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**Who acts:** fowler, grains · **What happens:** see, think, be, lie · **To what, where:** rice grains, course, ground · **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 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fowler, grains), 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:pg65965:8:8
# text = Of course he saw the rice-grains, and thought it very unusual that they should be lying on the ground in so lonely a spot as this was.
1	Of	of	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADV	4	advmod	_	_
2	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	fixed	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	rice	rice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	grains	grain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	very	very	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	unusual	unusual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	ccomp	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	aux	_	_
19	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
20	on	on	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	lonely	lonely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
28	as	as	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	19	obl	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | fowler | the rice grains |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer grain=Stimulus |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | fowler *not said here* | course |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot it=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | unusual *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **lie** | should · progressive | grains *= grain* |  |  | the ground |  | in a lonely spot; as this | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on ground=Location |

<!-- .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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