---
title: Our idea was that if, when the sun rose, we saw nothing of the giant… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Our idea was that if, when the sun rose, we saw nothing of the giant, and no longer heard his howls, which still came faintly through the darkness, growing more and more distant, we should conclude that he was dead, and that we might safely stay upon the island and need not risk our lives upon the f
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/15/30/)

<!-- 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/) / 30

# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 15, sentence 30

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Our idea was that if, when the sun rose, we saw nothing of the giant, and no longer heard his howls, which still came faintly through the darkness, growing more and more distant, we should conclude that he was dead, and that we might safely stay upon the island and need not risk our lives upon the frail rafts.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** sun, idea, howls, we, number · **What happens:** rise, be, hear, come, grow, conclude · **To what, where:** howls, darkness, island, lives

<!-- .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 (sun, idea, howls, 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:pg128:15:30
# text = Our idea was that if, when the sun rose, we saw nothing of the giant, and no longer heard his howls, which still came faintly through the darkness, growing more and more distant, we should conclude that he was dead, and that we might safely stay upon the island and need not risk our lives upon the frail rafts.
1	Our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	rose	rise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
12	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	13	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	no	no	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	22	advmod	_	_
22	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	howls	howl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	28	nsubj	_	_
27	still	still	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	_
29	faintly	faintly	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
30	through	through	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
34	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	conj	_	_
35	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	34	advmod	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	38	advmod	_	_
38	distant	distant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
40	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
41	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	conclude	conclude	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
43	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
44	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
45	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	cop	_	_
46	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
49	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
50	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
51	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
52	safely	safely	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
53	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	conj	_	_
54	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	60	cc	_	_
58	need	need	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	60	aux	_	_
59	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	60	advmod	_	_
60	risk	risk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	conj	_	_
61	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	62	nmod:poss	_	_
62	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	obj	_	_
63	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
64	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
65	frail	frail	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	66	amod	_	_
66	rafts	raft	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rise** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the sun |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | Our idea |  |  |  |  | see *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **hear** | past |  | sun's howls |  |  |  | long *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer howl=Stimulus |
| 4 | **come** | past | sun's howls |  |  | the darkness | still | faintly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme through darkness=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **grow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **conclude** | should | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 7 | **is** | past | number |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **stay** | might | we |  |  | the island |  | safely *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon island=Location |
| 9 | **not** **risk** | present | we *not said here* | our lives |  |  |  | upon the frail rafts | vn risk-94-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Pivot |
| 10 | **howl** |  | sun |  |  |  |  |  | nom howl «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/15/29/)
- next →: [sentence 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/15/31/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/15/)