---
title: As it was impossible to climb it--for it presented no foot-hold--I w… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: As it was impossible to climb it--for it presented no foot-hold--I walked round about it seeking some opening, but there was none. Who acts: height, I, none. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 14, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 14, sentence 18

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
As it was impossible to climb it--for it presented no foot-hold--I walked round about it seeking some opening, but there was none.

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**Who acts:** height, I, none · **What happens:** be, climb, present, walk, seek · **To what, where:** height, foot hold, opening

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (height, I, none), 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:pg128:14:18
# text = As it was impossible to climb it--for it presented no foot-hold--I walked round about it seeking some opening, but there was none.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	expl	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	climb	climb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	csubj	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	presented	present	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
12	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	15	det	_	_
13	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	walked	walk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
19	round	round	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
20	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	seeking	seek	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
23	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	24	det	_	_
24	opening	opening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	28	expl	_	_
28	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
29	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	28	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | impossible *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **climb** | to-infinitive |  | height |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location it=Theme |
| 3 | **present** | past | height | no foot hold |  |  |  |  | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Theme |
| 4 | **walk** | past | I |  |  |  |  | round *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **seek** | gerund | height | some opening |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent opening=Theme |
| 6 | **be** | past | none |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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