--- title: "I had of course no choice but to obey, and travelled about for seve… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: "I had of course no choice but to obey, and travelled about for several years until I heard of the death of the Caliph, when I hastily returned to Bagdad, only to find that all my brothers were dead. Who acts: barber, brothers, Caliph. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/22/27/) [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 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/22/) / 27 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 22, sentence 27 "I had of course no choice but to obey, and travelled about for several years until I heard of the death of the Caliph, when I hastily returned to Bagdad, only to find that all my brothers were dead. **Who acts:** barber, brothers, Caliph · **What happens:** have, obey, travel, hear, return, find · **To what, where:** choice, Bagdad This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 22. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (barber, brothers, Caliph), 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:pg128:22:27 # text = "I had of course no choice but to obey, and travelled about for several years until I heard of the death of the Caliph, when I hastily returned to Bagdad, only to find that all my brothers were dead. 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 5 course course NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ _ 6 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 7 det _ _ 7 choice choice NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ _ 8 but but CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 9 to to PART TO _ 10 mark _ _ 10 obey obey VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 13 travelled travel VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 14 about about ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ _ 15 for for ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 several several ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 amod _ _ 17 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obl _ _ 18 until until SCONJ IN _ 20 mark _ _ 19 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 20 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 advcl _ _ 21 of of ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 death death NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ _ 24 of of ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 Caliph Caliph PROPN NNP Number=Sing 23 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 28 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 31 advmod _ _ 29 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 30 hastily hastily ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 31 returned return VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 conj _ _ 32 to to ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 Bagdad Bagdad PROPN NNP Number=Sing 31 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 35 only only ADV RB _ 37 advmod _ _ 36 to to PART TO _ 37 mark _ _ 37 find find VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 20 conj _ _ 38 that that SCONJ IN _ 43 mark _ _ 39 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 41 det:predet _ _ 40 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 41 nmod:poss _ _ 41 brothers brother NOUN NNS Number=Plur 43 nsubj _ _ 42 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 43 cop _ _ 43 dead dead ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **have** *in a quote* | past | barber | no choice | | | | of course | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent choice=Patient | | 2 | **obey** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | barber *not said here* | | | | | | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **travel** *in a quote* | past | barber *not said here* | | | | year | about *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **hear** *in a quote* | past | barber | | | | | of the death of the Caliph | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer of death=Stimulus | | 5 | **return** *in a quote* | past | barber | | Bagdad | | | hastily *property* | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to bagdad=Result | | 6 | **find** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | barber *not said here* | | | | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **is** *in a quote* | past | my brothers | | | | | dead *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **die** *in a quote* | | the Caliph | | | | | | nom death «event intransitive»: of=agent | 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 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/22/26/) - next →: [sentence 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/22/28/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/22/)