---
title: Chattering meanwhile in a language we could not understand, and clut… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Chattering meanwhile in a language we could not understand, and clutching at ropes and gangways, they swarmed up the ship's side with such speed and agility that they almost seemed to fly. Who acts: gangways, we. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 14, wit
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 14, sentence 77

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Chattering meanwhile in a language we could not understand, and clutching at ropes and gangways, they swarmed up the ship's side with such speed and agility that they almost seemed to fly.

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**Who acts:** gangways, we · **What happens:** chatter, not understand, clutch, swarm up, seem, fly · **To what, where:** language, ropes, side

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (gangways, we), 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:pg128:14:77
# text = Chattering meanwhile in a language we could not understand, and clutching at ropes and gangways, they swarmed up the ship's side with such speed and agility that they almost seemed to fly.
1	Chattering	chatter	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	19	advcl	_	_
2	meanwhile	meanwhile	ADV	RB	_	1	advmod	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
6	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	clutching	clutch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	1	conj	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	ropes	rope	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	gangways	gangway	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	swarmed	swarm	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
20	up	up	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	's	's	PART	POS	_	22	case	_	_
24	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	speed	speed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	agility	agility	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	conj	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
31	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chatter** | gerund | gangways *= gangway* *not said here* |  |  | a language |  | meanwhile *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in language=Location |
| 2 | **not** **understand** | could | we | a language *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer language=Stimulus |
| 3 | **clutch** | gerund | gangways *= gangway* *not said here* |  |  | ropes and gangways |  |  | vn hold-15.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **swarm up** | past | gangways *= gangway* | the ship's side |  |  |  | with such speed and agility | vn swarm-47.5.1-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location side=Theme |
| 5 | **seem** | past | gangways *= gangway* |  |  |  |  | almost *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 6 | **fly** | to-infinitive | gangways *= gangway* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «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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