---
title: Uttering a terrible cry, he sprang to his feet clutching in all dire… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Uttering a terrible cry, he sprang to his feet clutching in all directions to try to seize one of us, but we had all fled different ways as soon as the deed was done, and thrown ourselves flat upon the ground in corners where he was not likely to touch us with his feet. Who acts: number, we, deed. A
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/15/27/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Arabian Nights Entertainments](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/) / [Opening, part 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/15/) / 27

# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 15, sentence 27

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Uttering a terrible cry, he sprang to his feet clutching in all directions to try to seize one of us, but we had all fled different ways as soon as the deed was done, and thrown ourselves flat upon the ground in corners where he was not likely to touch us with his feet.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** number, we, deed · **What happens:** utter, spring, clutch, try, seize, flee · **To what, where:** terrible cry, feet, directions, one, different ways, ourselves

<!-- .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 (number, we, deed), 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:pg128:15:27
# text = Uttering a terrible cry, he sprang to his feet clutching in all directions to try to seize one of us, but we had all fled different ways as soon as the deed was done, and thrown ourselves flat upon the ground in corners where he was not likely to touch us with his feet.
1	Uttering	utter	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	cry	cry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
11	clutching	clutch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	14	det	_	_
14	directions	direction	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	advcl	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	seize	seize	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	18	obj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
24	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	all	all	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	fled	flee	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	parataxis	_	_
28	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	ways	way	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obj	_	_
30	as	as	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	27	advmod	_	_
32	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	deed	deed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
36	done	done	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
39	thrown	throw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	conj	_	_
40	ourselves	ourselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	39	obj	_	_
41	flat	flat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	xcomp	_	_
42	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
45	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	corners	corner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl	_	_
47	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	51	advmod	_	_
48	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
49	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	cop	_	_
50	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	51	advmod	_	_
51	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	acl	_	_
52	to	to	PART	TO	_	53	mark	_	_
53	touch	touch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	xcomp	_	_
54	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	53	obj	_	_
55	with	with	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	57	nmod:poss	_	_
57	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **utter** *speech: other* | gerund | number *not said here* | a terrible cry |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent cry=Topic |
| 2 | **spring** | past | number |  |  | number's feet |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to foot=Destination |
| 3 | **clutch** | gerund | number *not said here* |  |  | all directions |  |  | vn hold-15.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **try** | to-infinitive | number *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **seize** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | number *not said here* | one of us |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Theme |
| 6 | **flee** | past · perfect | we | different ways |  |  |  | all, soon *property* | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme way=Initial\_Location |
| 7 | **is** | past | the deed |  |  |  |  | done *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **throw** | participle | we *not said here* | ourselves |  | corners |  | upon the ground; flat *property* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent ourselves=Theme upon ground=Destination |
| 9 | **not** **is** | past | number |  |  |  |  | likely *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **touch** | to-infinitive | number *not said here* | us |  |  |  | with number's feet | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent we=Experiencer with foot=Instrument |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/15/26/)
- next →: [sentence 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/15/28/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/15/)