--- title: The usher hastened on his errand, but was only just in time, for the… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: The usher hastened on his errand, but was only just in time, for the tailor was positively swinging in the air, when his voice fell upon the silence of the crowd, commanding the hangman to cut down the body. Who acts: usher, voice. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Op --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/20/23/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Arabian Nights Entertainments](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/) / [Opening, part 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/20/) / 23 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 20, sentence 23 The usher hastened on his errand, but was only just in time, for the tailor was positively swinging in the air, when his voice fell upon the silence of the crowd, commanding the hangman to cut down the body. **Who acts:** usher, voice · **What happens:** hasten, be, swing, fall, command, cut down · **To what, where:** usher, errand, silence, hangman, body, crowd · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (usher, voice), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg128:20:23 # text = The usher hastened on his errand, but was only just in time, for the tailor was positively swinging in the air, when his voice fell upon the silence of the crowd, commanding the hangman to cut down the body. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 usher usher NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 nsubj _ _ 3 hastened hasten VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 2 acl _ _ 4 on on ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 6 nmod:poss _ _ 6 errand errand NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 8 but but CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 9 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 cop _ _ 10 only only ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ _ 11 just just ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ _ 12 in in ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 13 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 15 for for ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 tailor tailor NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 conj _ _ 18 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 aux _ _ 19 positively positively ADV RB _ 20 advmod _ _ 20 swinging swing VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 21 in in ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 air air NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 25 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 28 advmod _ _ 26 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 27 voice voice NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 nsubj _ _ 28 fell fall VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 conj _ _ 29 upon upon ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 30 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 silence silence NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obl _ _ 32 of of ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 crowd crowd NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 36 commanding command VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 28 advcl _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 hangman hangman NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obj _ _ 39 to to PART TO _ 40 mark _ _ 40 cut cut VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 advcl _ _ 41 down down ADP RP _ 40 compound:prt _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 body body NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 20 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **hasten** | participle | | the usher but time and the tailor *not said here* | | usher's errand | | | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on errand=Trajectory | | 2 | **is** | past | the usher but time and the tailor *not said here* | | | | in time | | tree rules | | 3 | **swing** | past · progressive | the usher but time and the tailor | | | | | in the air; positively *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in air=Attribute | | 4 | **fall** | past | usher's voice | | | the silence of the crowd | | | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon silence=Location | | 5 | **command** | gerund | usher's voice *not said here* | the hangman | | | | | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: agent=Agent hangman=Eventuality | | 6 | **cut down** | to-infinitive | usher's voice *not said here* | the body | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset body=Product | | 7 | **silence** | | | the crowd | | | | | nom silence «state transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/20/22/) - next →: [sentence 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/20/24/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/20/)