---
title: Once the channel became so small that I had a narrow escape of being… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Once the channel became so small that I had a narrow escape of being crushed against the rocky roof, and after that I took the precaution of lying flat upon my precious bales. Who acts: channel, I, precaution. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 17, with i
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 17, sentence 59

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Once the channel became so small that I had a narrow escape of being crushed against the rocky roof, and after that I took the precaution of lying flat upon my precious bales.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** channel, I, precaution · **What happens:** become, have, crush, take, lie · **To what, where:** narrow escape, precaution, precious bales

<!-- .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 (channel, I, precaution), 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:pg128:17:59
# text = Once the channel became so small that I had a narrow escape of being crushed against the rocky roof, and after that I took the precaution of lying flat upon my precious bales.
1	Once	once	SCONJ	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	channel	channel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	narrow	narrow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	escape	escape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
13	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	crushed	crush	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	acl	_	_
16	against	against	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	rocky	rocky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	roof	roof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	after	after	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	25	obl	_	_
24	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	precaution	precaution	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
29	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	27	acl	_	_
30	flat	flat	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
31	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
33	precious	precious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	bales	bale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | past | the channel |  |  |  |  | small *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **have** | past | I | a narrow escape |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent escape=Patient |
| 3 | **crush** | gerund · passive |  | a narrow escape *not said here* |  |  |  | against the rocky roof | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle» |
| 4 | **take** | past | I | the precaution |  |  | after that |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent precaution=Theme |
| 5 | **lie** | gerund | the precaution *not said here* |  |  | my precious bales |  | flat *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon bale=Location |

<!-- .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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