--- title: At first the old man declined, but was persuaded to enter the room,… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: At first the old man declined, but was persuaded to enter the room, to sit down on the edge of the sofa nearest the door, and at last to draw closer and to seat himself by the beautiful Persian, who urged him so persistently to drink her health that at length he yielded, and took the cup she offered --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/29/84/) [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 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/29/) / 84 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 29, sentence 84 At first the old man declined, but was persuaded to enter the room, to sit down on the edge of the sofa nearest the door, and at last to draw closer and to seat himself by the beautiful Persian, who urged him so persistently to drink her health that at length he yielded, and took the cup she offered. **Who acts:** old man, man, Mecca · **What happens:** decline, persuade, enter, sit down, draw, urge · **To what, where:** room, edge, seat, man, Mecca, health This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 29. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man, man, Mecca), 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:pg128:29:84 # text = At first the old man declined, but was persuaded to enter the room, to sit down on the edge of the sofa nearest the door, and at last to draw closer and to seat himself by the beautiful Persian, who urged him so persistently to drink her health that at length he yielded, and took the cup she offered. 1 At at ADP IN _ 2 case _ _ 2 first first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 6 obl _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 4 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nsubj _ _ 6 declined decline VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 8 but but CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 9 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 aux:pass _ _ 10 persuaded persuade VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 6 ccomp _ _ 11 to to PART TO _ 12 mark _ _ 12 enter enter VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 xcomp _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 room room NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 16 to to PART TO _ 17 mark _ _ 17 sit sit VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 conj _ _ 18 down down ADP RP _ 17 compound:prt _ _ 19 on on ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 edge edge NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ _ 22 of of ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 sofa sofa NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nmod _ _ 25 nearest nearest ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 door door NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 30 at at ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 31 last last ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 conj _ _ 32 to to PART TO _ 33 mark _ _ 33 draw draw VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 csubj _ _ 34 closer close ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 33 advmod _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 36 to to PART TO _ 37 mark _ _ 37 seat seat NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obj _ _ 38 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes 37 nmod:unmarked _ _ 39 by by SCONJ IN _ 42 mark _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 41 beautiful beautiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 amod _ _ 42 Persian persian ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 44 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 45 nsubj _ _ 45 urged urge VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 42 parataxis _ _ 46 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 iobj _ _ 47 so so ADV RB _ 48 advmod _ _ 48 persistently persistently ADV RB _ 50 advmod _ _ 49 to to PART TO _ 50 mark _ _ 50 drink drink VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 45 xcomp _ _ 51 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 50 obj _ _ 52 health health NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 obj _ _ 53 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 57 obj _ _ 54 at at ADP IN _ 55 case _ _ 55 length length NOUN NN Number=Sing 57 obl _ _ 56 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 57 nsubj _ _ 57 yielded yield VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 52 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 58 , , PUNCT , _ 60 punct _ _ 59 and and CCONJ CC _ 60 cc _ _ 60 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 45 conj _ _ 61 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 62 det _ _ 62 cup cup NOUN NN Number=Sing 60 obj _ _ 63 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 64 nsubj _ _ 64 offered offer VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 62 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 65 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **decline** | past | the old man | | | | | | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 2 | **persuade** | past · passive | the old man *not said here* | | | | | | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: clause=Result | | 3 | **enter** | to-infinitive | the old man *not said here* | the room | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme room=Destination | | 4 | **sit down** | to-infinitive | the old man *not said here* | | | the edge of the sofa | | nearest the door | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on edge=Location | | 5 | **draw** | to-infinitive | | seat man | | | | close *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent seat=Theme | | 6 | **urge** | past | | | man | | | | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | | 7 | **drink** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | | Mecca | | | | persistently *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **yield** | past | man | health | | length | | | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent that=Theme | | 9 | **take** | past | | the cup | | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cup=Theme | | 10 | **offer** | past | Mecca | the cup *not said here* | | | | | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent cup=Theme | 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 83](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/29/83/) - next →: [sentence 85](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/29/85/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/29/)