---
title: But the Crab thought to himself: “If he once got hold of a fish, I d… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: But the Crab thought to himself: “If he once got hold of a fish, I doubt very much if he would really let it go into the pond. Who acts: Crab, hold. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 9, sentence 20

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But the Crab thought to himself: “If he once got hold of a fish, I doubt very much if he would really let it go into the pond.

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**Who acts:** Crab, hold · **What happens:** think, get, doubt, let, go, hold · **To what, where:** Crab, hold, pond, fish · **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 (Crab, hold), 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:pg65965:9:20
# text = But the Crab thought to himself: “If he once got hold of a fish, I doubt very much if he would really let it go into the pond.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Crab	Crab	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
8	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	12	advmod	_	_
12	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
13	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	doubt	doubt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
20	very	very	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	much	much	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
22	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	really	really	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
29	into	into	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	pond	pond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the Crab |  | Crab |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **get** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past | Crab | hold of a fish |  |  |  | once *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hold=Stimulus |
| 3 | **doubt** *in a quote* | present | the Crab *= crab* |  |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **let** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | would | Crab | hold |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **go** *in a quote* | infinitive | hold *not said here* |  |  | the pond |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into pond=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **hold** *in a quote* |  |  | a fish |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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