---
title: Though I only ate what was absolutely necessary to keep myself alive… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Though I only ate what was absolutely necessary to keep myself alive, the inevitable moment came when, after swallowing my last morsel of food, I began to wonder if I must after all die of hunger. Who acts: I, inevitable moment. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Openi
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 17, sentence 60

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Though I only ate what was absolutely necessary to keep myself alive, the inevitable moment came when, after swallowing my last morsel of food, I began to wonder if I must after all die of hunger.

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**Who acts:** I, inevitable moment · **What happens:** eat, be, keep, come, swallow, begin · **To what, where:** myself, last morsel

<!-- .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, inevitable moment), 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:pg128:17:60
# text = Though I only ate what was absolutely necessary to keep myself alive, the inevitable moment came when, after swallowing my last morsel of food, I began to wonder if I must after all die of hunger.
1	Though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	_
5	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	8	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	absolutely	absolutely	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	necessary	necessary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	csubj	_	_
11	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	10	obj	_	_
12	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	inevitable	inevitable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
18	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	21	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
21	swallowing	swallow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
22	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
23	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	morsel	morsel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
28	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	wonder	wonder	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
32	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
33	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	ccomp	_	_
35	after	after	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	37	det	_	_
37	die	die	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	hunger	hunger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | absolutely, necessary *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **keep** | to-infinitive |  | myself |  |  |  | alive *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent myself=Theme |
| 4 | **come** | past | the inevitable moment |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **swallow** | gerund | the inevitable moment *not said here* | my last morsel of food |  |  |  |  | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent morsel=Patient |
| 6 | **begin** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  | after all die of hunger |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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