---
title: I sought him long from place to place, but it was only to-day, when… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: I sought him long from place to place, but it was only to-day, when I expected it least, that I came across him, as much irritated with me as ever"-- So saying the tailor went on to relate the story of the lame man and the barber, which has already been told. Who acts: I, choice, tailor. A sentence 
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 22, sentence 29

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I sought him long from place to place, but it was only to-day, when I expected it least, that I came across him, as much irritated with me as ever"-- So saying the tailor went on to relate the story of the lame man and the barber, which has already been told.

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**Who acts:** I, choice, tailor · **What happens:** seek, be, expect, come, irritate, say · **To what, where:** Bagdad, place, choice, story, lame man · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (I, choice, tailor), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg128:22:29
# text = I sought him long from place to place, but it was only to-day, when I expected it least, that I came across him, as much irritated with me as ever"-- So saying the tailor went on to relate the story of the lame man and the barber, which has already been told.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sought	seek	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
13	only	only	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	expected	expect	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	least	least	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	parataxis	_	_
27	across	across	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	as	as	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	much	much	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	irritated	irritate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	conj	_	_
33	with	with	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	_
35	as	as	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	So	so	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
40	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	tailor	tailor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
43	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	ccomp	_	_
44	on	on	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	relate	relate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	advcl	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
51	lame	lame	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	barber	barber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
57	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	61	nsubj:pass	_	_
58	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	61	aux	_	_
59	already	already	ADV	RB	_	61	advmod	_	_
60	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	61	aux:pass	_	_
61	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	52	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seek** | past | I | Bagdad |  | place to place |  | long *property* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | choice |  |  |  | to day |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **expect** | past | I | choice |  |  |  | least *property* | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 4 | **come** | past | I |  |  |  |  | across Bagdad | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme across he=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **irritate** | participle | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with me | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | gerund | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 7 | **go on** *in a quote* | past | the tailor |  |  |  |  |  | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **relate** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the tailor *not said here* | the story of the lame man and the barber |  |  |  |  | vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent story=Theme |
| 9 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive |  | the lame man and the barber |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |

<!-- .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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