---
title: If I perished before I could reach the light of day once more I shou… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: If I perished before I could reach the light of day once more I should be no worse off than I was now, for death stared me in the face, while there was always the possibility that, as I was born under a lucky star, I might find myself safe and sound in some desirable land. Who acts: I, death. A sent
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 17, sentence 54

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If I perished before I could reach the light of day once more I should be no worse off than I was now, for death stared me in the face, while there was always the possibility that, as I was born under a lucky star, I might find myself safe and sound in some desirable land.

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**Who acts:** I, death · **What happens:** perish, reach, not be, be, stare, bear · **To what, where:** light, me, face, possibility, I, lucky star

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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, death), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg128:17:54
# text = If I perished before I could reach the light of day once more I should be no worse off than I was now, for death stared me in the face, while there was always the possibility that, as I was born under a lucky star, I might find myself safe and sound in some desirable land.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	perished	perish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
12	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	13	advmod	_	_
13	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	7	advmod	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
15	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	cop	_	_
17	no	no	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	ccomp	_	_
19	off	off	ADP	RP	_	18	compound:prt	_	_
20	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	18	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
26	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	stared	stare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	advcl	_	_
28	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
34	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	35	expl	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
36	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	38	advmod	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	possibility	possibility	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
39	that	that	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
41	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
42	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj:pass	_	_
43	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux:pass	_	_
44	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	38	conj	_	_
45	under	under	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
47	lucky	lucky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
50	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
51	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
52	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	parataxis	_	_
53	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	52	obj	_	_
54	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	xcomp	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
56	sound	sound	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	52	conj	_	_
57	in	in	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
58	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	60	det	_	_
59	desirable	desirable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	amod	_	_
60	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **perish** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **reach** | could | I | the light of day |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent light=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **is** | should | I |  |  |  |  | bad *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  |  | now *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **stare** | past | death | me |  | the face |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **is a** | past |  | the possibility |  |  |  | always, that *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **bear** | past · passive |  | I |  | a lucky star |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 8 | **find** | might | I | myself |  |  |  | safe *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent myself=Topic |
| 9 | **sound** | present | I *not said here* |  |  | some desirable land |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in land=Location |
| 10 | **light** |  |  | day |  |  |  |  | nom light «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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