---
title: Now in its way, the spectacle of ten men walking together, all blind… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Now in its way, the spectacle of ten men walking together, all blind of the right eye, is as uncommon as that of a copper castle, and I was turning over in my mind what could be the meaning of this strange fact, when they greeted me warmly, and inquired what had brought me there. Who acts: ten men, 
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 12, sentence 9

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Now in its way, the spectacle of ten men walking together, all blind of the right eye, is as uncommon as that of a copper castle, and I was turning over in my mind what could be the meaning of this strange fact, when they greeted me warmly, and inquired what had brought me there.

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**Who acts:** ten men, I, mind, miles, my · **What happens:** walk, be, turn over, greet, inquire, bring · **To what, where:** way, mind, meaning, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (ten men, I, mind, miles), 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:pg128:12:9
# text = Now in its way, the spectacle of ten men walking together, all blind of the right eye, is as uncommon as that of a copper castle, and I was turning over in my mind what could be the meaning of this strange fact, when they greeted me warmly, and inquired what had brought me there.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	23	advmod	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	spectacle	spectacle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
11	walking	walk	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	acl	_	_
12	together	together	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	det	_	_
15	blind	blind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	parataxis	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	eye	eye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	as	as	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	uncommon	uncommon	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
24	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	copper	copper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
29	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
32	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	turning	turn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	parataxis	_	_
35	over	over	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
39	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	43	nsubj	_	_
40	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
41	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	cop	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	acl:relcl	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
45	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	47	nsubj	_	_
46	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
49	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	51	advmod	_	_
50	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
51	greeted	greet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	acl	_	_
52	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	51	obj	_	_
53	warmly	warmly	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
56	inquired	inquire	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	conj	_	_
57	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	59	nsubj:pass	_	_
58	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	59	aux	_	_
59	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	56	ccomp	_	_
60	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	59	obj	_	_
61	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	59	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **walk** | gerund | ten men *not said here* |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  | haste's way | now | as that; uncommon *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **turn over** | past · progressive | I |  |  | my mind |  | over *property* | vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** | could | my mind | the meaning |  |  |  | of strange fact | tree rules |
| 5 | **greet** *speech: greet* | past | miles *= mile* |  | me |  |  | warmly *property* | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 6 | **inquire** *speech: other* | past | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 7 | **bring** | past · perfect · passive |  |  | me | there |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme i=Destination |
| 8 | **mind** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: 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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