---
title: A boat was sent off to me, and in answer to the questions of the sai… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: A boat was sent off to me, and in answer to the questions of the sailors as to how I came to be in such a plight, I replied that I had been shipwrecked two days before, but had managed to scramble ashore with the bales which I pointed out to them. Who acts: I. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Enter
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 16, sentence 70

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A boat was sent off to me, and in answer to the questions of the sailors as to how I came to be in such a plight, I replied that I had been shipwrecked two days before, but had managed to scramble ashore with the bales which I pointed out to them.

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** send off, come, be, reply, shipwreck, manage · **To what, where:** boat, me, plight, I, bales, sailors · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (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:pg128:16:70
# text = A boat was sent off to me, and in answer to the questions of the sailors as to how I came to be in such a plight, I replied that I had been shipwrecked two days before, but had managed to scramble ashore with the bales which I pointed out to them.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	off	off	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	questions	question	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	sailors	sailor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	_
18	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	fixed	_	_
20	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	22	advmod	_	_
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
24	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	cop	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	28	det:predet	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	plight	plight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	parataxis	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
33	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
34	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	36	aux:pass	_	_
36	shipwrecked	shipwreck	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	ccomp	_	_
37	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	38	nummod	_	_
38	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl:unmarked	_	_
39	before	before	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
41	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
42	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	managed	manage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	45	mark	_	_
45	scramble	scramble	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	xcomp	_	_
46	ashore	ashore	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
47	with	with	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	bales	bale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	obl	_	_
50	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	52	obj	_	_
51	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
52	pointed	point	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	acl:relcl	_	_
53	out	out	ADP	RP	_	52	compound:prt	_	_
54	to	to	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send off** | past · passive |  | a boat | me |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to i=Destination |
| 2 | **come** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | such plight |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **shipwreck** | past · perfect · passive |  | I |  |  |  | before *property* | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 6 | **manage** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **scramble** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | with the bales; ashore *property* | vn mix-22.1-1 «NP V PP.co-patient»: agent=Patient with bale=Co-Patient |
| 8 | **point out** | past | I | the bales | bales *= bale* |  |  |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent which=Theme to they=Recipient |
| 9 | **question** |  |  | the sailors |  |  |  |  | nom question «communication 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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