---
title: Seeing that he looked at them with interest, I ventured to say that… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Seeing that he looked at them with interest, I ventured to say that I myself and all that I had were at his disposal, but he answered me smiling: Who acts: I, king. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 18, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 18, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Seeing that he looked at them with interest, I ventured to say that I myself and all that I had were at his disposal, but he answered me smiling:

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**Who acts:** I, king · **What happens:** see, look, venture, say, have, be · **To what, where:** disposal, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, king), 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:pg128:18:5
# text = Seeing that he looked at them with interest, I ventured to say that I myself and all that I had were at his disposal, but he answered me smiling:
1	Seeing	see	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
2	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	ccomp	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	interest	interest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
10	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	ventured	venture	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	13	ccomp	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
18	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	25	det:predet	_	_
19	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	obj	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	_
22	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	disposal	disposal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
30	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	smiling	smile	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	29	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | gerund | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **look** | past | king |  |  |  |  | at heaps *= heap*; with interest | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at they=Theme |
| 3 | **venture** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **have** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Patient |
| 6 | **is** | past | I *not said here* |  |  | king's disposal |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | king |  | me |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent i=Eventuality |
| 8 | **smile** | gerund | king *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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