---
title: "My brother," pursued the barber, "was so much absorbed in his dream… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: "My brother," pursued the barber, "was so much absorbed in his dreams that he actually did give a kick with his foot, which unluckily hit the basket of glass. Who acts: brother, barber. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 20, with its dependency tree and t
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 20, sentence 76

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"My brother," pursued the barber, "was so much absorbed in his dreams that he actually did give a kick with his foot, which unluckily hit the basket of glass.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** brother, barber · **What happens:** pursue, absorb, give, hit, dream · **To what, where:** barber, dreams, kick, foot

<!-- .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 (brother, barber), 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:pg128:20:76
# text = "My brother," pursued the barber, "was so much absorbed in his dreams that he actually did give a kick with his foot, which unluckily hit the basket of glass.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
6	pursued	pursue	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	barber	barber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	much	much	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	absorbed	absorb	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	dreams	dream	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	actually	actually	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
21	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	kick	kick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	obj	_	_
30	unluckily	unluckily	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	hit	hit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	acl:relcl	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	basket	basket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pursue** | past | My brother | the barber |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent barber=Theme |
| 2 | **absorb** *in a quote* | past · passive |  |  |  | barber's dreams |  |  | vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP» |
| 3 | **give** *in a quote* | past · do-support | barber | a kick |  |  |  | with barber's foot; actually *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent kick=Theme |
| 4 | **hit** *in a quote* | past |  | barber's foot |  |  |  | unluckily *property* | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP ADJP»: agent=Agent which=Patient basket=Result |
| 5 | **dream** *in a quote* |  | barber |  |  |  |  |  | nom dream «cognition transitive»: poss=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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