---
title: Our condition seemed to us so frightful that several of my companion… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Our condition seemed to us so frightful that several of my companions thought it would be better to leap from the cliffs and perish in the waves at once, rather than await so miserable an end; but I had a plan of escape which I now unfolded to them, and which they at once agreed to attempt. Who acts
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 15, sentence 17

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Our condition seemed to us so frightful that several of my companions thought it would be better to leap from the cliffs and perish in the waves at once, rather than await so miserable an end; but I had a plan of escape which I now unfolded to them, and which they at once agreed to attempt.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** condition, several, it, I, Our · **What happens:** seem, think, be, leap, perish, await · **To what, where:** us, cliffs, waves, miserable end, plan, escape · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (condition, several, it, I), 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:pg128:15:17
# text = Our condition seemed to us so frightful that several of my companions thought it would be better to leap from the cliffs and perish in the waves at once, rather than await so miserable an end; but I had a plan of escape which I now unfolded to them, and which they at once agreed to attempt.
1	Our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	condition	condition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	frightful	frightful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
9	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	nsubj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	companions	companion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
13	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	cop	_	_
17	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	13	ccomp	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	leap	leap	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	csubj	_	_
20	from	from	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	cliffs	cliff	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	perish	perish	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	waves	wave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	_
28	at	at	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	rather	rather	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	33	cc	_	_
32	than	than	ADP	IN	_	31	fixed	_	_
33	await	await	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
34	so	so	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	miserable	miserable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
36	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	41	punct	_	_
39	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	plan	plan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	escape	escape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nmod	_	_
46	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	49	obj	_	_
47	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
48	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	49	advmod	_	_
49	unfolded	unfold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	acl:relcl	_	_
50	to	to	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
54	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	58	nsubj:pass	_	_
55	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
56	at	at	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
57	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	58	obl	_	_
58	agreed	agree	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	41	conj	_	_
59	to	to	PART	TO	_	60	mark	_	_
60	attempt	attempt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	58	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | Our condition |  | us |  |  | frightful *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | several |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | would | it |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **leap** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | the cliffs |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from cliff=Trajectory |
| 5 | **perish** | present |  |  |  | the waves |  |  | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **await** | infinitive |  | a miserable end |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **have** | past | I | a plan of escape |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plan=Patient |
| 8 | **unfold** | past | I | a plan of escape | waves *= wave* |  | now |  | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent which=Patient to they=Result |
| 9 | **agree** *speech: agree* | participle · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.co-agent that S»: subject=Co-Agent clause=Topic |
| 10 | **attempt** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 11 | **condition** |  | Our |  |  |  |  |  | nom condition «state transitive»: poss=agent |
| 12 | **plan** |  |  | escape |  |  |  |  | nom plan «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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