---
title: While we were eating, the dervish happened to mention that in a spot… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: While we were eating, the dervish happened to mention that in a spot only a little way off from where we were sitting, there was hidden a treasure so great that if my eighty camels were loaded till they could carry no more, the hiding place would seem as full as if it had never been touched. Who act
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 33, sentence 36

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
While we were eating, the dervish happened to mention that in a spot only a little way off from where we were sitting, there was hidden a treasure so great that if my eighty camels were loaded till they could carry no more, the hiding place would seem as full as if it had never been touched.

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**Who acts:** we, dervish, camels, hiding place · **What happens:** eat, happen, mention, sit, hide, load · **To what, where:** treasure, eighty camels, more, dervish · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 33. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, dervish, camels, hiding place), 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:pg128:33:36
# text = While we were eating, the dervish happened to mention that in a spot only a little way off from where we were sitting, there was hidden a treasure so great that if my eighty camels were loaded till they could carry no more, the hiding place would seem as full as if it had never been touched.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	dervish	dervish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	mention	mention	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
15	only	only	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
19	off	off	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
20	from	from	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	19	obl	_	_
22	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	21	advcl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	28	expl	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux:pass	_	_
28	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	ccomp	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	treasure	treasure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	so	so	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	xcomp	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
34	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
35	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
36	eighty	eighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	camels	camel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nsubj:pass	_	_
38	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux:pass	_	_
39	loaded	load	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	advcl	_	_
40	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
41	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
42	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	advcl	_	_
44	no	no	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
45	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	43	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	hiding	hiding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	compound	_	_
49	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	nsubj	_	_
50	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	51	aux	_	_
51	seem	seem	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	conj	_	_
52	as	as	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
53	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	xcomp	_	_
54	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	60	mark	_	_
55	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	60	mark	_	_
56	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	60	nsubj:pass	_	_
57	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	60	aux	_	_
58	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	60	advmod	_	_
59	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	60	aux:pass	_	_
60	touched	touch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	53	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | past · progressive | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **happen** | past | the dervish |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **mention** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | the dervish *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **sit** | past · progressive | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **hide** | past · passive |  | a treasure |  | there |  | great, off *property* | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: treasure=Patient |
| 6 | **load** | past · passive |  | my eighty camels |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-2 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme |
| 7 | **carry** | could | camels *= camel* | more |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent more=Theme |
| 8 | **seem** | would | the hiding place |  |  |  |  | full *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **not** **touch** | past · perfect · passive |  | dervish |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Co-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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