---
title: They stood there some time sadly shaking their heads, and then dug u… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: They stood there some time sadly shaking their heads, and then dug up a grave with their claws in which they buried him. Who acts: birds. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 26, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 26, sentence 46

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They stood there some time sadly shaking their heads, and then dug up a grave with their claws in which they buried him.

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**Who acts:** birds · **What happens:** stand, shake, dig up, bury · **To what, where:** heads, grave, conqueror, claws

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 26. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (birds), 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:pg128:26:46
# text = They stood there some time sadly shaking their heads, and then dug up a grave with their claws in which they buried him.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
4	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	det	_	_
5	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	sadly	sadly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
7	shaking	shake	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	13	advmod	_	_
13	dug	dig	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
14	up	up	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	grave	grave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	obl	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	buried	bury	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past | birds *= bird* |  |  | there | time | sadly *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **shake** | gerund | birds *= bird* *not said here* | birds's heads |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent head=Patient |
| 3 | **dig up** | participle | birds *= bird* *not said here* | a grave |  |  | then | with birds's claws | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.instsrument»: agent=Agent grave=Theme with claw=Instrument |
| 4 | **bury** | past | birds *= bird* | conqueror |  | birds's claws |  |  | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme in which=Destination |

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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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