--- title: When they did at last discover our position we had small ground for… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: When they did at last discover our position we had small ground for rejoicing, for the captain, casting his turban upon the deck and tearing his beard, declared that we were in the most dangerous spot upon the whole wide sea, and had been caught by a current which was at that minute sweeping us to d --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/17/38/) [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 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/17/) / 38 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 17, sentence 38 When they did at last discover our position we had small ground for rejoicing, for the captain, casting his turban upon the deck and tearing his beard, declared that we were in the most dangerous spot upon the whole wide sea, and had been caught by a current which was at that minute sweeping us to destruction. **Who acts:** guests, we, captain, current, minute · **What happens:** do, discover, have, cast, tear, declare · **To what, where:** position, small ground, turban, deck, beard, dangerous spot · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (guests, we, captain, current), 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:pg128:17:38 # text = When they did at last discover our position we had small ground for rejoicing, for the captain, casting his turban upon the deck and tearing his beard, declared that we were in the most dangerous spot upon the whole wide sea, and had been caught by a current which was at that minute sweeping us to destruction. 1 When when ADV WRB PronType=Int 3 advmod _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 did do VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 at at SCONJ IN _ 6 mark _ _ 5 last last ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 discover discover VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 7 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 8 nmod:poss _ _ 8 position position NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ _ 9 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 10 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 acl:relcl _ _ 11 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 12 ground ground NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obj _ _ 13 for for ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 14 rejoicing rejoicing NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 16 for for ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 captain captain NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 20 casting cast VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 18 acl _ _ 21 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 22 nmod:poss _ _ 22 turban turban NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obj _ _ 23 upon upon ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 deck deck NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 27 tearing tear VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 20 conj _ _ 28 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 29 nmod:poss _ _ 29 beard beard NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 31 declared declare VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 18 parataxis _ _ 32 that that SCONJ IN _ 39 mark _ _ 33 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 34 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 cop _ _ 35 in in ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 37 most most ADV RBS Degree=Sup 38 advmod _ _ 38 dangerous dangerous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 amod _ _ 39 spot spot NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 ccomp _ _ 40 upon upon ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 42 whole whole ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 amod _ _ 43 wide wide ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 amod _ _ 44 sea sea NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 45 , , PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ _ 46 and and CCONJ CC _ 49 cc _ _ 47 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 49 aux _ _ 48 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 49 aux:pass _ _ 49 caught catch VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 conj _ _ 50 by by ADP IN _ 52 case _ _ 51 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 52 det _ _ 52 current current NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 obl _ _ 53 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 57 nsubj _ _ 54 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 57 cop _ _ 55 at at ADP IN _ 57 case _ _ 56 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 57 det _ _ 57 minute minute NOUN NN Number=Sing 52 acl:relcl _ _ 58 sweeping sweep VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 57 acl _ _ 59 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 58 obj _ _ 60 to to ADP IN _ 61 case _ _ 61 destruction destruction NOUN NN Number=Sing 58 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 62 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **do** | past | guests *= guest* | | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **discover** | present | guests *= guest* *not said here* | our position | | | | | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent position=Topic | | 3 | **have** | past | we | small ground | | | | for rejoicing | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ground=Patient | | 4 | **cast** | gerund | the captain *not said here* | captain's turban | | the deck | | | vn throw-17.1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent turban=Theme upon deck=Destination | | 5 | **tear** | gerund | the captain *not said here* | captain's beard | | | | | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location beard=Theme | | 6 | **declare** *speech: other* | past | | | | | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **is** | past | we | | | the dangerous spot | | upon the whole wide sea | tree rules | | 8 | **catch** | past · perfect · passive | a current | | | | | | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 9 | **is** | past | a current | | | | | at that minute | tree rules | | 10 | **sweep** | gerund | that minute *not said here* | us | | destruction | | | vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent we=Theme to destruction=Trajectory | 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 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/17/37/) - next →: [sentence 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/17/39/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/17/)