---
title: In spite of all the sailors could do we were driven with frightful r… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: In spite of all the sailors could do we were driven with frightful rapidity towards the foot of a mountain, which rose sheer out of the sea, and our vessel was dashed to pieces upon the rocks at its base, not, however, until we had managed to scramble on shore, carrying with us the most precious of 
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 17, sentence 40

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In spite of all the sailors could do we were driven with frightful rapidity towards the foot of a mountain, which rose sheer out of the sea, and our vessel was dashed to pieces upon the rocks at its base, not, however, until we had managed to scramble on shore, carrying with us the most precious of our possessions.

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**Who acts:** we, our · **What happens:** do, drive, rise, dash, not manage, not scramble · **To what, where:** spite, we, sheer, sea, vessel, base

<!-- .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 (we, our), 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:pg128:17:40
# text = In spite of all the sailors could do we were driven with frightful rapidity towards the foot of a mountain, which rose sheer out of the sea, and our vessel was dashed to pieces upon the rocks at its base, not, however, until we had managed to scramble on shore, carrying with us the most precious of our possessions.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	spite	spite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sailors	sailor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	do	do	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	driven	drive	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	advcl	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	frightful	frightful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	rapidity	rapidity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	mountain	mountain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
23	rose	rise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
24	sheer	sheer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
25	out	out	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
31	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	vessel	vessel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj:pass	_	_
33	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux:pass	_	_
34	dashed	dash	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	advcl	_	_
35	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obl	_	_
37	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nmod	_	_
40	at	at	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	base	base	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
44	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	51	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
46	however	however	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
48	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
49	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
50	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	aux	_	_
51	managed	manage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
52	to	to	PART	TO	_	53	mark	_	_
53	scramble	scramble	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	xcomp	_	_
54	on	on	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	shore	shore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
57	carrying	carry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	53	advcl	_	_
58	with	with	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
59	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	57	obl	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
61	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	62	advmod	_	_
62	precious	precious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	57	conj	_	_
63	of	of	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
64	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	65	nmod:poss	_	_
65	possessions	possession	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	62	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | could |  |  |  | spite of all sailors |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **drive** | past · passive |  | we |  |  |  | with frightful rapidity | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **rise** | past |  | sheer |  | the sea |  | towards the foot of a mountain | tree rules |
| 4 | **dash** | past · passive |  | our vessel |  | vessel's base |  | to pieces upon the rocks *result* | vn hit-18.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: subject=Patient to piece=Result |
| 5 | **not** **manage** | past · perfect | we |  |  |  |  | however *property* | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **not** **scramble** | to-infinitive | we *not said here* |  |  | shore |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on shore=Trajectory |
| 7 | **carry** | gerund | we *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with us | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **spite** |  |  | all sailors |  |  |  |  | nom spite «feeling transitive»: of=patient |
| 9 | **possess** |  | our |  |  |  |  |  | nom possession «act transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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