---
title: But then, supposing he had, I should have got possession of it by fo… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: But then, supposing he had, I should have got possession of it by force, so great was the madness that had laid hold upon me. Who acts: man, I, supposing. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 33, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 33, sentence 95

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But then, supposing he had, I should have got possession of it by force, so great was the madness that had laid hold upon me.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** man, I, supposing · **What happens:** suppose, have, get, be, lay, hold · **To what, where:** possession, madness · **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 (man, I, supposing), 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:pg128:33:95
# text = But then, supposing he had, I should have got possession of it by force, so great was the madness that had laid hold upon me.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	supposing	suppose	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	22	csubj	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	aux	_	_
11	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	parataxis	_	_
12	possession	possession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nmod	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	force	force	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	so	so	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	madness	madness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
23	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	laid	lay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	acl:relcl	_	_
26	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
27	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **suppose** | gerund |  |  |  |  | then |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **have** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **get** | should · perfect | I | possession of possession |  |  |  | by force | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer possession=Stimulus |
| 4 | **is a** | past | supposing | the madness |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **lay** | past · perfect · passive |  | the madness |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **hold** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | upon me | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon i=Location |
| 7 | **possess** |  |  | possession |  |  |  |  | nom possession «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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