---
title: In one place I saw a tortoise which was twenty cubits long and as ma… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: In one place I saw a tortoise which was twenty cubits long and as many broad, also a fish that was like a cow and had skin so thick that it was used to make shields. Who acts: I, tortoise, fish. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 15, with its dependency t
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 15, sentence 74

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In one place I saw a tortoise which was twenty cubits long and as many broad, also a fish that was like a cow and had skin so thick that it was used to make shields.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, tortoise, fish · **What happens:** see, be, have, use, make · **To what, where:** tortoise, one place, skin, shields

<!-- .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 (I, tortoise, fish), 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:pg128:15:74
# text = In one place I saw a tortoise which was twenty cubits long and as many broad, also a fish that was like a cow and had skin so thick that it was used to make shields.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	tortoise	tortoise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
11	cubits	cubit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl:unmarked	_	_
12	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	acl:relcl	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	as	as	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	broad	broad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	also	also	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
21	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
23	like	like	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	acl:relcl	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
28	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
29	so	so	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	xcomp	_	_
31	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj:pass	_	_
33	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux:pass	_	_
34	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	advcl	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	advcl	_	_
37	shields	shield	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | I | a tortoise |  | one place |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer tortoise=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | past | a tortoise |  |  |  |  | twenty cubits *obl:unmarked*; long *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  | a tortoise *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | past | a fish |  |  |  |  | like a cow | tree rules |
| 5 | **have** | past | I *not said here* | skin |  |  |  | thick *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skin=Patient |
| 6 | **use** | past · passive |  | tortoise |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 7 | **make** | to-infinitive |  | shields |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset shield=Product |

<!-- .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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