---
title: The cliffs were high and steep, but luckily for me some tree-roots p… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: The cliffs were high and steep, but luckily for me some tree-roots protruded in places, and by their aid I climbed up at last, and stretched myself upon the turf at the top, where I lay, more dead than alive, till the sun was high in the heavens. Who acts: cliffs, I, sun. A sentence of «The Arabian 
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 13, sentence 50

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cliffs were high and steep, but luckily for me some tree-roots protruded in places, and by their aid I climbed up at last, and stretched myself upon the turf at the top, where I lay, more dead than alive, till the sun was high in the heavens.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** cliffs, I, sun · **What happens:** be, protrude, climb up, stretch, lay · **To what, where:** tree roots, places, last, myself, top, heavens

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (cliffs, I, sun), 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:pg128:13:50
# text = The cliffs were high and steep, but luckily for me some tree-roots protruded in places, and by their aid I climbed up at last, and stretched myself upon the turf at the top, where I lay, more dead than alive, till the sun was high in the heavens.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cliffs	cliff	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	steep	steep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	luckily	luckily	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	advcl	_	_
12	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	15	det	_	_
13	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	conj	_	_
16	protruded	protrude	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	acl	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	places	place	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
21	by	by	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	aid	aid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
24	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	climbed	climb	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
26	up	up	ADP	RP	_	25	compound:prt	_	_
27	at	at	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	stretched	stretch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
32	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	31	obj	_	_
33	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	turf	turf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
36	at	at	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
40	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	42	advmod	_	_
41	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
42	lay	lay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
44	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	45	amod	_	_
45	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	advcl	_	_
46	than	than	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
49	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nsubj	_	_
52	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	cop	_	_
53	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	conj	_	_
54	in	in	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	heavens	heaven	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the cliffs |  |  |  |  | high *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | the cliffs *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **protrude** | participle |  | some tree roots *not said here* |  | places |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in place=Location |
| 4 | **climb up** | past | I |  |  | last |  | by cliffs's aid | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by aid=Trajectory |
| 5 | **stretch** | past | I *not said here* | myself |  | the top |  | upon the turf | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent myself=Patient |
| 6 | **lay** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is** | past | the sun |  |  | the heavens |  | high *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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