---
title: Though objects of rare workmanship lay heaped around me, I paid them… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Though objects of rare workmanship lay heaped around me, I paid them scant attention, so much was I struck by a great black horse which stood in one corner, the handsomest and best-shaped animal I had ever seen. Who acts: I, great black horse. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by And
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 12, sentence 78

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Though objects of rare workmanship lay heaped around me, I paid them scant attention, so much was I struck by a great black horse which stood in one corner, the handsomest and best-shaped animal I had ever seen.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, great black horse · **What happens:** heap, pay, strike, stand, shape, see · **To what, where:** objects, I, one corner, handsomest shaped animal

<!-- .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 (I, great black horse), 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:pg128:12:78
# text = Though objects of rare workmanship lay heaped around me, I paid them scant attention, so much was I struck by a great black horse which stood in one corner, the handsomest and best-shaped animal I had ever seen.
1	Though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
2	objects	object	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	rare	rare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	workmanship	workmanship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	heaped	heap	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	advcl	_	_
8	around	around	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	paid	pay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	scant	scant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	attention	attention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	so	so	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	much	much	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux:pass	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	struck	strike	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	conj	_	_
22	by	by	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
24	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
25	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
27	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	28	nsubj	_	_
28	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	acl:relcl	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	31	nummod	_	_
31	corner	corner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
34	handsomest	handsome	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	39	amod	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
36	best	well	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	38	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	shaped	shape	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	39	amod	_	_
39	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	parataxis	_	_
40	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
41	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
42	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	43	advmod	_	_
43	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	39	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **heap** | past · passive |  | objects of rare workmanship |  |  |  | around me | vn spray-9.7-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme around i=Destination |
| 2 | **pay** | past | I | objects *= object* |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient attention=Asset |
| 3 | **strike** | past · passive | a great black horse | I |  |  |  |  | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent subject=Instrument |
| 4 | **stand** | past | a great black horse |  |  | one corner |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in corner=Location |
| 5 | **shape** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 6 | **see** | past · perfect | I | the handsomest shaped animal *not said here* |  |  | ever |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer animal=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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