---
title: Now some of the fishes overheard what the Crane said to the Crab, an… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: Now some of the fishes overheard what the Crane said to the Crab, and they at once called a general meeting. Who acts: some, Crane. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 9, sentence 1

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Now some of the fishes overheard what the Crane said to the Crab, and they at once called a general meeting.

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**Who acts:** some, Crane · **What happens:** overhear, say, call · **To what, where:** Crab, fishes · **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 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (some, Crane), 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:pg65965:9:1
# text = Now some of the fishes overheard what the Crane said to the Crab, and they at once called a general meeting.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
2	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	fishes	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
6	overheard	overhear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	10	obj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Crane	Crane	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Crab	Crab	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	19	obl	_	_
19	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	general	general	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	meeting	meeting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **overhear** | past | some of the fishes |  |  |  | now |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Crane |  | the Crab |  |  | what *obj* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent what=Topic to crab=Recipient |
| 3 | **call** | participle · passive |  | fishes *= fish* |  |  |  | a general meeting *xcomp* | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme PP.recipient PP.stimulus»: subject=Theme at once=Stimulus |

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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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