--- title: For a moment we lost sight of them, and were flattering ourselves th… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: For a moment we lost sight of them, and were flattering ourselves that we had escaped, when they reappeared and soared into the air directly over our vessel, and we saw that each held in its claws an immense rock ready to crush us. Who acts: we, merchants. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertain --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/16/90/) [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 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/16/) / 90 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 16, sentence 90 For a moment we lost sight of them, and were flattering ourselves that we had escaped, when they reappeared and soared into the air directly over our vessel, and we saw that each held in its claws an immense rock ready to crush us. **Who acts:** we, merchants · **What happens:** lose, flatter, escape, reappear, soar, see · **To what, where:** sight, ourselves, air, each, claws, us · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (we, merchants), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg128:16:90 # text = For a moment we lost sight of them, and were flattering ourselves that we had escaped, when they reappeared and soared into the air directly over our vessel, and we saw that each held in its claws an immense rock ready to crush us. 1 For for ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 moment moment NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 4 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 5 lost lose VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 sight sight NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ _ 7 of of ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 8 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 11 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 aux _ _ 12 flattering flatter VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 5 advcl _ _ 13 ourselves ourselve NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 obj _ _ 14 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 17 nsubj:pass _ _ 15 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 16 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 aux _ _ 17 escaped escape VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 13 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 19 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 21 advmod _ _ 20 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 21 reappeared reappear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 parataxis _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 23 soared soar VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 conj _ _ 24 into into ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 air air NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ _ 27 directly directly ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 28 over over ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 30 nmod:poss _ _ 30 vessel vessel NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 33 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 34 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 35 that that SCONJ IN _ 37 mark _ _ 36 each each DET DT PronType=Tot 37 nsubj:pass _ _ 37 held hold VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 34 ccomp _ _ 38 in in ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 40 nmod:poss _ _ 40 claws claw NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 obl _ _ 41 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 42 immense immense ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 43 rock rock NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obj _ _ 44 ready ready ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 advcl _ _ 45 to to PART TO _ 46 mark _ _ 46 crush crush VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 44 xcomp _ _ 47 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 46 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **lose** | past | we | sight of merchants | | | moment | | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sight=Eventuality | | 2 | **flatter** | past · progressive | we *not said here* | ourselves | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus ourselve=Experiencer | | 3 | **escape** | past · perfect · passive | | ourselves | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Initial\_Location | | 4 | **reappear** | past | merchants *= merchant* | | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **soar** | past | merchants *= merchant* *not said here* | | | the air | | over our vessel | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V PP.source PP.trajectory PP.destination»: agent=Theme into air=Source over vessel=Trajectory | | 6 | **see** | past | we | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 7 | **hold** | participle · passive | | each | | air's claws | | | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme rock=Eventuality | | 8 | **crush** | to-infinitive | | us | | | | | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent we=Patient | | 9 | **sight** | | | merchants *= merchant* | | | | | nom sight «cognition transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 89](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/16/89/) - next →: [sentence 91](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/16/91/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/16/)