---
title: I had penetrated some distance into the island when I saw an old man… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: I had penetrated some distance into the island when I saw an old man bent and feeble sitting upon the river bank, and at first I took him to be some ship-wrecked mariner like myself. Who acts: I, old man. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 17, with its de
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 17, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I had penetrated some distance into the island when I saw an old man bent and feeble sitting upon the river bank, and at first I took him to be some ship-wrecked mariner like myself.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, old man · **What happens:** penetrate, see, sit, take, wreck, be · **To what, where:** distance, island, old man, river bank, man, wrecked mariner

<!-- .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, old man), 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:pg128:17:5
# text = I had penetrated some distance into the island when I saw an old man bent and feeble sitting upon the river bank, and at first I took him to be some ship-wrecked mariner like myself.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	penetrated	penetrate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	det	_	_
5	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	into	into	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
10	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
12	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
15	bent	bent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	feeble	feeble	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	conj	_	_
18	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	acl	_	_
19	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	_
22	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	at	at	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	28	obl	_	_
27	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
29	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
31	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	cop	_	_
32	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	36	det	_	_
33	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	wrecked	wreck	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	amod	_	_
36	mariner	mariner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	advcl	_	_
37	like	like	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **penetrate** | past · perfect | I | some distance |  | the island |  |  | vn poke-19 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent distance=Patient |
| 2 | **see** | past | I | a old man |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer man=Stimulus |
| 3 | **sit** | gerund | a old man *not said here* |  |  | the river bank |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon bank=Location |
| 4 | **take** | past | I | man |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent he=Theme at first=Asset |
| 5 | **wreck** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is a** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | some wrecked mariner |  |  |  | like myself | tree rules |

<!-- .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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