--- title: When he had recovered himself a little, and was able to explain the… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: When he had recovered himself a little, and was able to explain the cause of his terror, he replied, in answer to my question, that we had drifted far out of our course, and that the following day about noon we should come near that mass of darkness, which, said he, is nothing but the famous Black M --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/11/21/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Arabian Nights Entertainments](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/) / [Opening, part 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/11/) / 21 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 11, sentence 21 When he had recovered himself a little, and was able to explain the cause of his terror, he replied, in answer to my question, that we had drifted far out of our course, and that the following day about noon we should come near that mass of darkness, which, said he, is nothing but the famous Black Mountain. **Who acts:** crew, we, mass, my · **What happens:** recover, be, explain, reply, drift, follow · **To what, where:** crew, cause, answer, question, mass, nothing · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (crew, we, mass, my), 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 {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg128:11:21 # text = When he had recovered himself a little, and was able to explain the cause of his terror, he replied, in answer to my question, that we had drifted far out of our course, and that the following day about noon we should come near that mass of darkness, which, said he, is nothing but the famous Black Mountain. 1 When when ADV WRB PronType=Int 4 advmod _ _ 2 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 3 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 recovered recover VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 5 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 4 obj _ _ 6 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 10 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 cop _ _ 11 able able ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 conj _ _ 12 to to PART TO _ 13 mark _ _ 13 explain explain VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 11 xcomp _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 cause cause NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obj _ _ 16 of of ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 18 nmod:poss _ _ 18 terror terror NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 20 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 21 replied reply VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 23 in in ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 answer answer NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obj _ _ 25 to to ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 27 question question NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 29 that that SCONJ IN _ 32 mark _ _ 30 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 31 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ _ 32 drifted drift VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 21 conj _ _ 33 far far ADV RB Degree=Pos 32 advmod _ _ 34 out out ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 35 of of ADP IN _ 34 fixed _ _ 36 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 37 nmod:poss _ _ 37 course course NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ _ 39 and and CCONJ CC _ 48 cc _ _ 40 that that SCONJ IN _ 48 mark _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 42 following follow VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 43 amod _ _ 43 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 obl:unmarked _ _ 44 about about ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 45 noon noon NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 nmod _ _ 46 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 48 nsubj _ _ 47 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 48 aux _ _ 48 come come VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 32 conj _ _ 49 near near ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 50 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 51 det _ _ 51 mass mass NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 obl _ _ 52 of of ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 53 darkness darkness NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 54 , , PUNCT , _ 57 punct _ _ 55 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 57 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 56 , , PUNCT , _ 55 punct _ _ 57 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 51 parataxis _ _ 58 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 61 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 59 , , PUNCT , _ 58 punct _ _ 60 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 61 cop _ _ 61 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 57 ccomp _ _ 62 but but CCONJ CC _ 66 cc _ _ 63 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 66 det _ _ 64 famous famous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 66 amod _ _ 65 Black Black PROPN NNP Number=Sing 66 compound _ _ 66 Mountain Mountain PROPN NNP Number=Sing 61 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 67 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **recover** | past · perfect | crew | crew | | | | a little *obl* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Theme | | 2 | **is** | past | crew *not said here* | | | | | able *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **explain** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | crew *not said here* | the cause of crew's terror | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Topic | | 4 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | crew | answer | my question | | | | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent answer=Topic to question=Recipient | | 5 | **drift** | past · perfect | we | | | | | far *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **follow** | gerund | | | | | | | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **come** | should | we | | | that mass of darkness | day | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme near mass=Location | | 8 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | that mass of darkness | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 9 | **is a** | present | crew | nothing | | | | | tree rules | | 10 | **cause** | | | crew's terror | | | | | nom cause «event transitive»: of=patient | | 11 | **question** | | my | | | | | | nom question «communication 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. - ← previous: [sentence 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/11/20/) - next →: [sentence 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/11/22/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/11/)