---
title: I alone managed to grasp a floating plank, and was driven ashore by… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: I alone managed to grasp a floating plank, and was driven ashore by the wind, without even a scratch. Who acts: I, wind. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 11, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/11/29/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / 29

# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 11, sentence 29

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I alone managed to grasp a floating plank, and was driven ashore by the wind, without even a scratch.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, wind · **What happens:** manage, grasp, float, drive · **To what, where:** floating plank

<!-- .vabout -->
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, wind), 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:pg128:11:29
# text = I alone managed to grasp a floating plank, and was driven ashore by the wind, without even a scratch.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	managed	manage	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	grasp	grasp	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	floating	float	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	amod	_	_
8	plank	plank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	driven	drive	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
13	ashore	ashore	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	without	without	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	even	even	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	scratch	scratch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **manage** | past | I |  |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **grasp** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | a floating plank |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer plank=Stimulus |
| 3 | **float** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **drive** | past · passive | the wind |  |  |  |  | without a scratch; ashore *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/11/28/)
- next →: [sentence 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/11/30/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/11/)