---
title: The first thing our captain did was to divide equally amongst us all… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: The first thing our captain did was to divide equally amongst us all the food we possessed, and then the length of each man's life depended on the time he could make his portion last. Who acts: captain, first thing, we, length. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Openin
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 17, sentence 48

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The first thing our captain did was to divide equally amongst us all the food we possessed, and then the length of each man's life depended on the time he could make his portion last.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** captain, first thing, we, length · **What happens:** do, be, possess, depend, make · **To what, where:** first thing, food, portion

<!-- .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 (captain, first thing, we, length), 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:pg128:17:48
# text = The first thing our captain did was to divide equally amongst us all the food we possessed, and then the length of each man's life depended on the time he could make his portion last.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	amod	_	_
3	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
4	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	captain	captain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	divide	divide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
10	equally	equally	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	amongst	amongst	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	_
13	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	15	det:predet	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	parataxis	_	_
16	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	possessed	possess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
20	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	28	advmod	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
24	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	25	det	_	_
25	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	's	's	PART	POS	_	25	case	_	_
27	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
28	depended	depend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
29	on	on	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	conj	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	portion	portion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
37	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | our captain | the first thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is** | past | the first thing |  |  |  |  | amongst us; divide, equally *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **possess** | past | we | all food *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot food=Theme |
| 4 | **depend** | past | the length of each man's life |  |  |  | then |  | vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **make** | could | length | length's portion |  |  | time | last *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent portion=Product |

<!-- .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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