---
title: On hearing my determination my ten hosts then took a sheep and kille… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: On hearing my determination my ten hosts then took a sheep and killed it, and handed me a knife, which they said I should by-and-by find useful. " Who acts: hosts, my. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 12, sentence 32

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On hearing my determination my ten hosts then took a sheep and killed it, and handed me a knife, which they said I should by-and-by find useful. "

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** hosts, my · **What happens:** hear, take, kill, hand, say, find · **To what, where:** determination, sheep, knife, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hosts, my), 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:pg128:12:32
# text = On hearing my determination my ten hosts then took a sheep and killed it, and handed me a knife, which they said I should by-and-by find useful. "
1	On	on	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	hearing	hear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
3	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	determination	determination	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	hosts	host	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
8	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	9	advmod	_	_
9	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	killed	kill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	handed	hand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
18	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	24	obj	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	parataxis	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	ccomp	_	_
27	by	by	ADP	IN	_	24	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	by	by	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	conj	_	_
33	useful	useful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
35	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | gerund |  | my determination |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** | past |  |  | a sheep |  | then |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument sheep=Destination |
| 3 | **kill** | past |  | sheep |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 4 | **hand** | past |  | a knife | me |  |  |  | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Destination knife=Theme |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | hosts *= host* | a knife |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent which=Topic |
| 6 | **find** | infinitive | hosts *= host* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | useful *property* | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **determine** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom determination «act intransitive»: poss=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.

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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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