---
title: It was some little time since anyone had presented himself to run th… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: It was some little time since anyone had presented himself to run the terrible risk involved in attempting to cure the princess, and a crowd soon gathered round the prince. Who acts: life, little time, crowd. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 25, with it
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 25, sentence 17

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was some little time since anyone had presented himself to run the terrible risk involved in attempting to cure the princess, and a crowd soon gathered round the prince.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** life, little time, crowd · **What happens:** be, present, run, attempt, cure, gather · **To what, where:** little time, anyone, terrible risk, princess

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 25. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (life, little time, crowd), 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:pg128:25:17
# text = It was some little time since anyone had presented himself to run the terrible risk involved in attempting to cure the princess, and a crowd soon gathered round the prince.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	det	_	_
4	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	presented	present	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl:relcl	_	_
10	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	9	obj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	risk	risk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	involved	involved	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
17	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
18	attempting	attempt	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	cure	cure	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	crowd	crowd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
27	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	28	advmod	_	_
28	gathered	gather	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
29	round	round	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | life | some little time |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **present** | past · perfect · passive | some little time *not said here* | anyone |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **run** | to-infinitive | some little time *not said here* | the terrible risk |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme risk=Trajectory |
| 4 | **attempt** | gerund | some little time *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **cure** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | some little time *not said here* | the princess |  |  |  |  | vn free-10.6.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer princess=Source |
| 6 | **gather** | past | a crowd |  |  |  |  | round the prince; soon *property* | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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