---
title: During this time the old woman was busy over her prayers, and when s… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: During this time the old woman was busy over her prayers, and when she had finished she came and prostrated herself twice before my brother, and then rising called down endless blessings on his head. Who acts: old woman, woman. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Openin
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 21, sentence 6

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
During this time the old woman was busy over her prayers, and when she had finished she came and prostrated herself twice before my brother, and then rising called down endless blessings on his head.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** old woman, woman · **What happens:** be, finish, come, prostrate, call down, pray · **To what, where:** prayers, woman, endless blessings

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old woman, woman), 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:pg128:21:6
# text = During this time the old woman was busy over her prayers, and when she had finished she came and prostrated herself twice before my brother, and then rising called down endless blessings on his head.
1	During	during	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	busy	busy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
9	over	over	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	prayers	prayer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
15	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	finished	finish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	conj	_	_
18	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	ccomp	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	prostrated	prostrate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
22	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	21	obj	_	_
23	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	21	advmod	_	_
24	before	before	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
29	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	31	advmod	_	_
30	rising	rise	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
32	down	down	ADP	RP	_	31	compound:prt	_	_
33	endless	endless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	blessings	blessing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	xcomp	_	_
35	on	on	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the old woman |  |  | woman's prayers | time | busy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **finish** | past · perfect | woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **come** | past | woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **prostrate** | past | woman *not said here* | woman |  |  | before my brother | twice *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **call down** *speech: assert* | gerund · passive | the old woman *not said here* | endless blessings on stranger's head |  |  | then |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V» |
| 6 | **pray** |  | woman |  |  |  |  |  | nom prayer «act intransitive»: 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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