---
title: They thought this was all right, and so selected their sharpest fish… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: They thought this was all right, and so selected their sharpest fish, one whom they considered could not be outwitted, and handed him over to the Crane. Who acts: interests, this. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 9, with its de
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/9/12/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Jade Story Book; Stories from the…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/) / [Opening, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/9/) / 12

# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 9, sentence 12

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They thought this was all right, and so selected their sharpest fish, one whom they considered could not be outwitted, and handed him over to the Crane.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** interests, this · **What happens:** think, be, select, consider, not outwit, hand over · **To what, where:** sharpest fish, Crane · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (interests, this), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg65965:9:12
# text = They thought this was all right, and so selected their sharpest fish, one whom they considered could not be outwitted, and handed him over to the Crane.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	all	all	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	selected	select	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
11	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
12	sharpest	sharp	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	13	amod	_	_
13	fish	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nsubj	_	_
16	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	obl	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	considered	consider	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl:relcl	_	_
19	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
21	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	aux:pass	_	_
22	outwitted	outwit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	handed	hand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	over	over	ADP	RP	_	25	compound:prt	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	Crane	Crane	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | interests *= interest* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | this |  |  |  |  | all, right *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **select** | past | interests *= interest* *not said here* | interests's sharpest fish |  |  |  | whom *obl* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Theme |
| 4 | **consider** | past | interests *= interest* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-1-1 «NP V whether/if S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **outwit** | could · passive | interests *= interest* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exceed-90 «NP V NP» |
| 6 | **hand over** | past | interests *= interest* *not said here* | Crane | the Crane |  |  |  | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme to crane=Destination |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/9/11/)
- next →: [sentence 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/9/13/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/9/)