---
title: I took on myself the duties of a servant, held the basin and water f… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: I took on myself the duties of a servant, held the basin and water for him when he washed, prepared the dinner and set it on the table. Who acts: I, Agib. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 11, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 11, sentence 75

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I took on myself the duties of a servant, held the basin and water for him when he washed, prepared the dinner and set it on the table.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, Agib · **What happens:** take on, hold, wash, prepare, set · **To what, where:** myself, basin, dinner, table

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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, Agib), 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:pg128:11:75
# text = I took on myself the duties of a servant, held the basin and water for him when he washed, prepared the dinner and set it on the table.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	duties	duty	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	basin	basin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	_
18	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	washed	wash	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	prepared	prepare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	dinner	dinner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	conj	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take on** | past | I | myself |  |  |  |  | vn adopt-93.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent duty=Theme |
| 2 | **hold** | past | I *not said here* | the basin and water |  |  |  | for Agib | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent basin=Theme |
| 3 | **wash** | past | Agib |  |  |  |  |  | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **prepare** | past | Agib *not said here* | the dinner |  |  |  |  | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dinner=Patient |
| 5 | **set** | infinitive | Agib *not said here* | dinner |  | the table |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme on table=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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