The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 11, sentence 72
I listened to his story with an inward laugh as to the absurdity of my ever wishing to cause the death of this harmless boy, whom I hastened to assure of my friendship and even of my protection; begging him, in return, to convey me in his father's ship to my own country.
Who acts: I, my, harmless boy · What happens: listen, wish, cause, hasten, assure, beg · To what, where: absurdity, death, harmless boy, Agib, return, me
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, my, harmless boy), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher. This tree is Mova's own parse (the en model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 2 listened | nsubj |
| 2 | listened | listen | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | to | to | ADP | _ | 5 story | case |
| 4 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 5 story | nmod:poss |
| 5 | story | story | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 listened | obl |
| 6 | with | with | ADP | _ | 9 laugh | case |
| 7 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 laugh | det |
| 8 | inward | inward | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 laugh | amod |
| 9 | laugh | laugh | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 listened | obl |
| 10 | as | as | ADP | ExtPos=ADP | 13 absurdity | case |
| 11 | to | to | ADP | _ | 10 as | fixed |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 absurdity | det |
| 13 | absurdity | absurdity | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 listened | obl |
| 14 | of | of | SCONJ | _ | 17 wishing | mark |
| 15 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 17 wishing | nsubj |
| 16 | ever | ever | ADV | PronType=Ind | 17 wishing | advmod |
| 17 | wishing | wish | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 13 absurdity | acl |
| 18 | to | to | PART | _ | 19 cause | mark |
| 19 | cause | cause | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 17 wishing | xcomp |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 death | det |
| 21 | death | death | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 cause | obj |
| 22 | of | of | ADP | _ | 25 boy | case |
| 23 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 25 boy | det |
| 24 | harmless | harmless | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 boy | amod |
| 25 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 death | nmod |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 hastened | punct |
| 27 | whom | whom | PRON | PronType=Rel | 29 hastened | obj |
| 28 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 29 hastened | nsubj |
| 29 | hastened | hasten | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 boy | acl:relcl |
| 30 | to | to | PART | _ | 31 assure | mark |
| 31 | assure | assure | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 29 hastened | xcomp |
| 32 | of | of | ADP | _ | 34 friendship | case |
| 33 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 34 friendship | nmod:poss |
| 34 | friendship | friendship | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 assure | obl |
| 35 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 39 protection | cc |
| 36 | even | even | ADV | _ | 39 protection | advmod |
| 37 | of | of | ADP | _ | 39 protection | case |
| 38 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 39 protection | nmod:poss |
| 39 | protection | protection | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 friendship | conj |
| 40 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 41 begging | punct |
| 41 | begging | beg | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 2 listened | parataxis |
| 42 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 41 begging | obj |
| 43 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 45 return | punct |
| 44 | in | in | ADP | _ | 45 return | case |
| 45 | return | return | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 begging | obl |
| 46 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 48 convey | punct |
| 47 | to | to | PART | _ | 48 convey | mark |
| 48 | convey | convey | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 41 begging | conj |
| 49 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 48 convey | obj |
| 50 | in | in | ADP | _ | 54 ship | case |
| 51 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 52 father | nmod:poss |
| 52 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 54 ship | nmod:poss |
| 53 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 52 father | case |
| 54 | ship | ship | NOUN | Number=Sing | 48 convey | obl |
| 55 | to | to | ADP | _ | 58 country | case |
| 56 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 58 country | nmod:poss |
| 57 | own | own | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 58 country | amod |
| 58 | country | country | NOUN | Number=Sing | 48 convey | obl |
| 59 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 listened | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | listen | past | I | to Agib's story; with a inward laugh; as the absurdity | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to story=Theme | ||||
| 2 | wish | gerund | my | the absurdity not said here | ever | tree rules | |||
| 3 | cause not said to happen | to-infinitive | my not said here | the death of this harmless boy | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition death=Patient | ||||
| 4 | hasten | past | I | this harmless boy | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | assure | to-infinitive | I not said here | of my friendship and my protection | vn advise-37.9 «NP V NP PP.topic»: agent=Agent of friendship=Topic | ||||
| 6 | beg speech: request | gerund | Agib | return | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | ||||
| 7 | convey | to-infinitive | me | my own country | Agib's father's ship | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Topic to country=Recipient | |||
| 8 | die | this harmless boy | nom death «event intransitive»: of=agent | ||||||
| 9 | protect | my | nom protection «act transitive»: poss=agent |
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.
Text: «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 128 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/11/72/