--- title: Pretending that he wished to read it a second time, Saouy turned asi… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: Pretending that he wished to read it a second time, Saouy turned aside as if to seek a better light; unperceived by anyone he tore off the formula from the top of the letter, put it to his mouth, and swallowed it. Who acts: Saouy, king. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lan --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/30/57/) [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 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/30/) / 57 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 30, sentence 57 Pretending that he wished to read it a second time, Saouy turned aside as if to seek a better light; unperceived by anyone he tore off the formula from the top of the letter, put it to his mouth, and swallowed it. **Who acts:** Saouy, king · **What happens:** pretend, wish, read, turn, seek, unperceiv · **To what, where:** order, better light, formula, top This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 30. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Saouy, king), 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:pg128:30:57 # text = Pretending that he wished to read it a second time, Saouy turned aside as if to seek a better light; unperceived by anyone he tore off the formula from the top of the letter, put it to his mouth, and swallowed it. 1 Pretending pretend VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 4 nsubj _ _ 2 that that SCONJ IN _ 4 mark _ _ 3 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 4 wished wish VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 to to PART TO _ 6 mark _ _ 6 read read VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 xcomp _ _ 7 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 obj _ _ 8 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 9 second second ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 10 amod _ _ 10 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 12 Saouy Saouy PROPN NNP Number=Sing 13 nsubj _ _ 13 turned turn VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 advcl _ _ 14 aside aside ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ _ 15 as as SCONJ IN _ 18 mark _ _ 16 if if SCONJ IN _ 18 mark _ _ 17 to to PART TO _ 18 mark _ _ 18 seek seek VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 advcl _ _ 19 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 20 better good ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 21 amod _ _ 21 light light NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 ; ; PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 23 unperceived unperceiv VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 4 parataxis _ _ 24 by by ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 25 anyone anyone PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 23 obl:agent _ _ 26 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 27 tore tore VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 acl:relcl _ _ 28 off off ADP RP _ 27 compound:prt _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 formula formula NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obj _ _ 31 from from ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 top top NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obl _ _ 34 of of ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 letter letter NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 38 put put VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 23 conj _ _ 39 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 obj _ _ 40 to to ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 42 nmod:poss _ _ 42 mouth mouth NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 44 and and CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 45 swallowed swallow VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 advcl _ _ 46 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **pretend** | gerund | | | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **wish** | past | | | | | | | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 3 | **read** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | | order | | | time | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic | | 4 | **turn** | past | Saouy | | | | | aside *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **seek** | to-infinitive | Saouy *not said here* | a better light | | | | | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent light=Theme | | 6 | **unperceiv** | participle | | | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **tore off** | past | king | the formula | | the top of the letter | | | tree rules | | 8 | **put** | infinitive | | order | | | | to king's mouth | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent it=Goal | | 9 | **swallow** | past | | order | | | | | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient | 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 56](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/30/56/) - next →: [sentence 58](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/30/58/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/30/)