---
title: I soon learnt that the object of our expedition was to fill our sack… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: I soon learnt that the object of our expedition was to fill our sacks with cocoanuts, but when at length I saw the trees and noted their immense height and the slippery smoothness of their slender trunks, I did not at all understand how we were to do it. Who acts: I, object, we. A sentence of «The A
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 17, sentence 24

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I soon learnt that the object of our expedition was to fill our sacks with cocoanuts, but when at length I saw the trees and noted their immense height and the slippery smoothness of their slender trunks, I did not at all understand how we were to do it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, object, we · **What happens:** learn, be, see, note, do, not understand · **To what, where:** trees, length, immense height, sack · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, object, 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:pg128:17:24
# text = I soon learnt that the object of our expedition was to fill our sacks with cocoanuts, but when at length I saw the trees and noted their immense height and the slippery smoothness of their slender trunks, I did not at all understand how we were to do it.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
3	learnt	learn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	object	object	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	expedition	expedition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	fill	fill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
13	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	sacks	sack	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	cocoanuts	cocoanut	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
19	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	23	advmod	_	_
20	at	at	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	noted	note	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
29	immense	immense	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	height	height	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	slippery	slippery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	smoothness	smoothness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
37	slender	slender	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	trunks	trunk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
42	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	45	advmod	_	_
43	at	at	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
44	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	45	advmod	_	_
45	understand	understand	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	41	ccomp	_	_
46	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	50	advmod	_	_
47	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
48	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	ccomp	_	_
51	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | past | I |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is** | past | the object of our expedition |  |  |  |  | with cocoanuts; fill *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | past | I | the trees |  | length |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer tree=Stimulus |
| 4 | **note** | past | I *not said here* | trees's immense height and the slippery smoothness of trees's slender trunks |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent height=Topic |
| 5 | **do** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **understand** | present | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 7 | **do** | past | we | sack |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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