---
title: As soon as it was alight, he threw on it a handful of perfumes, and… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: As soon as it was alight, he threw on it a handful of perfumes, and pronounced a few words that I did not understand, and immediately a thick column of smoke rose high into the air. Who acts: fire, space, I, thick column. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, par
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 33, sentence 55

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
As soon as it was alight, he threw on it a handful of perfumes, and pronounced a few words that I did not understand, and immediately a thick column of smoke rose high into the air.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** fire, space, I, thick column · **What happens:** be, throw, pronounce, not understand, rise · **To what, where:** handful, fire, few words, air

<!-- .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 (fire, space, I, thick column), 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:pg128:33:55
# text = As soon as it was alight, he threw on it a handful of perfumes, and pronounced a few words that I did not understand, and immediately a thick column of smoke rose high into the air.
1	As	as	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	9	advmod	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	alight	alight	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	handful	handful	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	perfumes	perfume	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
22	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	obj	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
26	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
29	immediately	immediately	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	column	column	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	smoke	smoke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
35	rose	rise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
36	high	high	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	35	advmod	_	_
37	into	into	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | fire |  |  |  |  | alight *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **throw** | past | space | a handful of perfumes |  | fire |  | soon *property* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent handful=Theme on it=Destination |
| 3 | **pronounce** | past | space *not said here* | a few words |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **understand** | past · do-support | I | a few words |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer that=Stimulus |
| 5 | **rise** | past | a thick column of smoke |  |  | the air |  | high *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into air=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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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