---
title: But, in order to expiate the sin of avarice, which was my undoing, I… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: But, in order to expiate the sin of avarice, which was my undoing, I oblige each passer-by to give me a blow. Who acts: sin, I. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 34, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 34, sentence 37

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But, in order to expiate the sin of avarice, which was my undoing, I oblige each passer-by to give me a blow.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** sin, I · **What happens:** expiate, be, oblige, give · **To what, where:** sin, undoing, passer, blow, me

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 34. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sin, I), 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:pg128:34:37
# text = But, in order to expiate the sin of avarice, which was my undoing, I oblige each passer-by to give me a blow.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	in	in	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	6	mark	_	_
4	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	fixed	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	expiate	expiate	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	sin	sin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	avarice	avarice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	undoing	undoing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	oblige	oblige	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
19	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	20	det	_	_
20	passer	passer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	acl:relcl	_	_
25	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	iobj	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **expiate** | to-infinitive |  | the sin of avarice and my undoing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the sin of avarice and my undoing | my undoing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **oblige** | present | I | each passer |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent passer=Patient |
| 4 | **give** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | a blow | me |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient blow=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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