---
title: But having let this chance slip I was forced to resort to fire, and… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: But having let this chance slip I was forced to resort to fire, and in spite of all his experience I showed the genius that I knew more than he did. Who acts: chance slip, I, fire. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 10, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 10, sentence 101

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But having let this chance slip I was forced to resort to fire, and in spite of all his experience I showed the genius that I knew more than he did.

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**Who acts:** chance slip, I, fire · **What happens:** let, force, resort, show, know, do · **To what, where:** chance slip, I, genius, experience

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chance slip, I, fire), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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 {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg128:10:101
# text = But having let this chance slip I was forced to resort to fire, and in spite of all his experience I showed the genius that I knew more than he did.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	aux	_	_
3	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
5	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	slip	slip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	forced	force	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl:relcl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	resort	resort	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	spite	spite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	21	det:predet	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	experience	experience	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	showed	show	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	genius	genius	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	28	obj	_	_
27	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	acl:relcl	_	_
29	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	28	obj	_	_
30	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | gerund |  | this chance slip |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent slip=Theme |
| 2 | **force** | past · passive | this chance slip *not said here* | I |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **resort** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to fire *result* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to fire=Result |
| 4 | **show** | past | I | the genius |  |  |  | in spite of fire's experience | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: agent=Agent genius=Patient in spite=Topic |
| 5 | **know** | past | I | the genius |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **do** | past | fire |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **spite** |  |  | fire's experience |  |  |  |  | nom spite «feeling transitive»: of=patient |
| 8 | **experience** |  | fire |  |  |  |  |  | nom experience «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 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.

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