---
title: My brother tried to bribe them to let him off, but far from listenin… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: My brother tried to bribe them to let him off, but far from listening to him they tied his hands, and forced him to walk between them to the presence of the judge. Who acts: brother, Alnaschar. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 21, with its dependency tr
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/21/74/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/21/) / 74

# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 21, sentence 74

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
My brother tried to bribe them to let him off, but far from listening to him they tied his hands, and forced him to walk between them to the presence of the judge.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** brother, Alnaschar · **What happens:** try, bribe, let off, listen, tie, force · **To what, where:** brother, Alnaschar, hands

<!-- .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 (brother, Alnaschar), 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:pg128:21:74
# text = My brother tried to bribe them to let him off, but far from listening to him they tied his hands, and forced him to walk between them to the presence of the judge.
1	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	bribe	bribe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	off	off	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
13	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	15	advmod	_	_
14	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
15	listening	listen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	tied	tie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	forced	force	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	walk	walk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
28	between	between	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	presence	presence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	judge	judge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | My brother |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **bribe** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | My brother *not said here* | brother |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 3 | **let off** | to-infinitive | My brother *not said here* | Alnaschar |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 4 | **listen** | gerund | brother *not said here* |  | Alnaschar |  |  | far *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to he=Theme |
| 5 | **tie** | past | brother | Alnaschar's hands |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Patient |
| 6 | **force** | past | My brother *not said here* | Alnaschar |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 7 | **walk** | to-infinitive | Alnaschar *not said here* |  |  |  |  | between brother; to the presence of the judge *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to presence=Result |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 73](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/21/73/)
- next →: [sentence 75](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/21/75/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/21/)