---
title: At the moment that he was about to suffer punishment, first one man… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: At the moment that he was about to suffer punishment, first one man arrived, and then another, each accusing themselves of the murder, and this went on for a long time, and at the present instant the chief of police is engaged in questioning a man who declares that he alone is the true assassin." Wh
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 20, sentence 21

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At the moment that he was about to suffer punishment, first one man arrived, and then another, each accusing themselves of the murder, and this went on for a long time, and at the present instant the chief of police is engaged in questioning a man who declares that he alone is the true assassin."

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**Who acts:** man, one man, each, this · **What happens:** be, suffer, arrive, accuse, go on, instant · **To what, where:** punishment, gallows, present, chief, man, true assassin · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, one man, each, this), 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:pg128:20:21
# text = At the moment that he was about to suffer punishment, first one man arrived, and then another, each accusing themselves of the murder, and this went on for a long time, and at the present instant the chief of police is engaged in questioning a man who declares that he alone is the true assassin."
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	suffer	suffer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	punishment	punishment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	15	advmod	_	_
13	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	19	advmod	_	_
19	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	22	nsubj	_	_
22	accusing	accuse	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
23	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	22	obj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	murder	murder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	30	nsubj	_	_
30	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
31	on	on	ADP	RP	_	30	compound:prt	_	_
32	for	for	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
38	at	at	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
41	instant	instant	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj:pass	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	police	police	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nmod	_	_
46	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	47	aux:pass	_	_
47	engaged	engage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	41	ccomp	_	_
48	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
49	questioning	question	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	47	advcl	_	_
50	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obj	_	_
52	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	53	nsubj	_	_
53	declares	declare	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	51	acl:relcl	_	_
54	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	60	mark	_	_
55	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	60	nsubj	_	_
56	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	_
57	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	60	cop	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
59	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	amod	_	_
60	assassin	assassin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | man |  |  |  | moment | about *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **suffer** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | punishment |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer punishment=Stimulus |
| 3 | **arrive** | past | one man |  |  |  |  | first *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **accuse** | gerund | each | gallows |  |  |  | of the murder | vn suspect-81 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme of murder=Attribute |
| 5 | **go on** | past | this |  |  |  | time |  | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **instant** | past | this *not said here* |  |  | the present |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **engage** | present · passive |  | the chief of police |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 8 | **question** *speech: other* | gerund |  |  | a man |  |  |  | vn interrogate-37.1.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Recipient |
| 9 | **declare** *speech: other* | present | a man |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **is a** | present | man | the true assassin |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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