---
title: In spite of all I could say to deter them, the merchants who were wi… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: In spite of all I could say to deter them, the merchants who were with me fell upon it with their hatchets, breaking the shell, and killing the young roc. Who acts: I, merchants. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 16, with its dependency tree and the prag
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 16, sentence 85

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In spite of all I could say to deter them, the merchants who were with me fell upon it with their hatchets, breaking the shell, and killing the young roc.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, merchants · **What happens:** say, deter, fall, break, kill · **To what, where:** merchants, spite, shell, young roc · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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, merchants), 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:pg128:16:85
# text = In spite of all I could say to deter them, the merchants who were with me fell upon it with their hatchets, breaking the shell, and killing the young roc.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	spite	spite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	nmod	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl:relcl	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	deter	deter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	merchants	merchant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	_
14	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
15	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	_
18	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
19	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obl	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	hatchets	hatchet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	breaking	break	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	shell	shell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	killing	kill	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	roc	roc	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | could | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **deter** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | merchants *= merchant* |  |  |  |  | vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer they=Eventuality |
| 3 | **fall** | past | the merchants |  |  | spite of all |  | upon spite; with merchants's hatchets | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in spite=Location |
| 4 | **break** | gerund | the merchants *not said here* | the shell |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer shell=Patient |
| 5 | **kill** | gerund | the merchants *not said here* | the young roc |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent roc=Theme |

<!-- .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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