---
title: While this was taking place the wolf, who had transformed himself in… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: While this was taking place the wolf, who had transformed himself into a cock, began to swallow the seed of the pomegranate as fast as he could. Who acts: this, wolf. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 10, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ev
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 10, sentence 85

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While this was taking place the wolf, who had transformed himself into a cock, began to swallow the seed of the pomegranate as fast as he could.

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**Who acts:** this, wolf · **What happens:** take, be, transform, begin, swallow · **To what, where:** taking place, wolf, seed

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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 (this, wolf), 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:pg128:10:85
# text = While this was taking place the wolf, who had transformed himself into a cock, began to swallow the seed of the pomegranate as fast as he could.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	taking	take	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	advcl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	transformed	transform	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	acl:relcl	_	_
12	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	11	obj	_	_
13	into	into	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	cock	cock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
17	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	swallow	swallow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	seed	seed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	pomegranate	pomegranate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
25	as	as	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	19	advmod	_	_
27	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | past | this | taking place |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **transform** | past · perfect | the wolf | wolf |  |  |  | into a cock *result* | vn turn-26.6.1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: agent=Agent himself=Patient into cock=Result |
| 4 | **begin** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **swallow** | to-infinitive |  | the seed of the pomegranate |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent seed=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 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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