--- title: In the evening, when we retire to our apartments, I shall sit in the… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: In the evening, when we retire to our apartments, I shall sit in the place of honour, where I shall assume a grand demeanour and speak little, gazing straight before me, and when my wife, lovely as the full moon, stands humbly in front of my chair I shall pretend not to see her. Who acts: we, I. A s --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/20/58/) [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/) / 58 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 20, sentence 58 In the evening, when we retire to our apartments, I shall sit in the place of honour, where I shall assume a grand demeanour and speak little, gazing straight before me, and when my wife, lovely as the full moon, stands humbly in front of my chair I shall pretend not to see her. **Who acts:** we, I · **What happens:** retire, sit, assume, speak, gaze, stand · **To what, where:** place, grand demeanour, little, front, chair, wife · **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 (we, I), 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:pg128:20:58 # text = In the evening, when we retire to our apartments, I shall sit in the place of honour, where I shall assume a grand demeanour and speak little, gazing straight before me, and when my wife, lovely as the full moon, stands humbly in front of my chair I shall pretend not to see her. 1 In in ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 evening evening NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 5 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 7 advmod _ _ 6 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 7 retire retire VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 14 advcl _ _ 8 to to ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 10 nmod:poss _ _ 10 apartments apartment NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 12 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 13 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 14 aux _ _ 14 sit sit VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 15 in in ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 place place NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ _ 18 of of ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 19 honour honour NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 21 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 24 advmod _ _ 22 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 23 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 24 aux _ _ 24 assume assume VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 14 conj _ _ 25 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 26 grand grand ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 27 demeanour demeanour NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obj _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 29 speak speak VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 24 conj _ _ 30 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 32 gazing gaze VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 14 advcl _ _ 33 straight straight ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 34 before before ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 35 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 37 and and CCONJ CC _ 42 cc _ _ 38 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 42 advmod _ _ 39 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 40 nmod:poss _ _ 40 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 42 lovely lovely ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 14 conj _ _ 43 as as ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 45 full full ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 46 amod _ _ 46 moon moon NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 , , PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ _ 48 stands stand VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 14 parataxis _ _ 49 humbly humbly ADV RB _ 48 advmod _ _ 50 in in ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 51 front front NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 obl _ _ 52 of of ADP IN _ 54 case _ _ 53 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 54 nmod:poss _ _ 54 chair chair NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 nmod _ _ 55 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 57 nsubj _ _ 56 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 57 aux _ _ 57 pretend pretend VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 54 acl:relcl _ _ 58 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 60 advmod _ _ 59 to to PART TO _ 60 mark _ _ 60 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 57 xcomp _ _ 61 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 60 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 62 . . PUNCT . _ 14 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **retire** | present | we | | | | | to our apartments | vn resign-10.11-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **sit** | shall | I | | | the place of honour | evening | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in place=Location | | 3 | **assume** | shall | I | a grand demeanour | | | | | vn adopt-93.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent demeanour=Theme | | 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | present | I *not said here* | little | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **gaze** | gerund | I *not said here* | | | | before me | straight *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent before i=Theme | | 6 | **stand** | present | | | | front of my chair | | humbly *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in front=Location | | 7 | **pretend** | shall | I | my chair *not said here* | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **not** **see** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | wife | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus | 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 57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/20/57/) - next →: [sentence 59](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/20/59/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/20/)