---
title: Before the dishes were removed I made signs that writing materials,… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Before the dishes were removed I made signs that writing materials, which stood in one corner of the room, should be laid in front of me. Who acts: I, writing materials. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 10, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 10, sentence 40

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Before the dishes were removed I made signs that writing materials, which stood in one corner of the room, should be laid in front of me.

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**Who acts:** I, writing materials · **What happens:** remove, make, stand, lay · **To what, where:** dishes, signs, one corner, writing materials, front

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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 (I, writing materials), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg128:10:40
# text = Before the dishes were removed I made signs that writing materials, which stood in one corner of the room, should be laid in front of me.
1	Before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	dishes	dish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	removed	remove	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	advcl	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	signs	sign	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
10	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	materials	material	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
14	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	nummod	_	_
17	corner	corner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
22	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	laid	lay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	advcl	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **remove** | past · passive |  | the dishes |  |  |  |  | vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **make** | past | I | signs |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sign=Product |
| 3 | **stand** | past | writing materials |  |  | one corner of the room |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in corner=Location |
| 4 | **lay** | should · passive |  | writing materials |  | front of me |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in front=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.

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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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