---
title: The executioner knotted the cord firmly round the unfortunate man's… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: The executioner knotted the cord firmly round the unfortunate man's neck and was just about to swing him into the air, when the Sultan's purveyor dashed through the crowd, and cried, panting, to the hangman, Who acts: executioner, purveyor. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 19, sentence 91

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The executioner knotted the cord firmly round the unfortunate man's neck and was just about to swing him into the air, when the Sultan's purveyor dashed through the crowd, and cried, panting, to the hangman,

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**Who acts:** executioner, purveyor · **What happens:** knot, be, dash, cry, pant · **To what, where:** cord, air, crowd, hangman

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 19. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (executioner, purveyor), 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:pg128:19:91
# text = The executioner knotted the cord firmly round the unfortunate man's neck and was just about to swing him into the air, when the Sultan's purveyor dashed through the crowd, and cried, panting, to the hangman,
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	executioner	executioner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	knotted	knot	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	cord	cord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	firmly	firmly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
7	round	round	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	unfortunate	unfortunate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	's	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
15	just	just	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	about	about	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	swing	swing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	into	into	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
24	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	29	advmod	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	's	's	PART	POS	_	26	case	_	_
28	purveyor	purveyor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	dashed	dash	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
30	through	through	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	crowd	crowd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
37	panting	pant	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	35	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	to	to	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	hangman	hangman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **knot** | past | the executioner | the cord |  |  |  | round the unfortunate man's neck; firmly *property* | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cord=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | past | the executioner *not said here* |  |  | the air |  | about, swing *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **dash** | past | the Sultan's purveyor |  |  | the crowd |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through crowd=Trajectory |
| 4 | **cry** *speech: express* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **pant** | gerund |  | the hangman |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hangman=Topic |

<!-- .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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