---
title: I ate mine, as was natural, with a spoon, but great was my surprise… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: I ate mine, as was natural, with a spoon, but great was my surprise to notice that my wife, instead of doing the same, drew from her pocket a little case, from which she selected a long pin, and by the help of this pin conveyed her rice grain by grain to her mouth. Who acts: I, natural, dinner. A se
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 34, sentence 71

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I ate mine, as was natural, with a spoon, but great was my surprise to notice that my wife, instead of doing the same, drew from her pocket a little case, from which she selected a long pin, and by the help of this pin conveyed her rice grain by grain to her mouth.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, natural, dinner · **What happens:** eat, be, notice, do, draw, select · **To what, where:** mine, surprise, wife, same, little case, pocket

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (I, natural, dinner), 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:pg128:34:71
# text = I ate mine, as was natural, with a spoon, but great was my surprise to notice that my wife, instead of doing the same, drew from her pocket a little case, from which she selected a long pin, and by the help of this pin conveyed her rice grain by grain to her mouth.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	mine	my	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	natural	natural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	spoon	spoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	notice	notice	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	acl	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
24	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=SCONJ	26	mark	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	fixed	_	_
26	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
30	drew	draw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
31	from	from	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	pocket	pocket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	case	case	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
38	from	from	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	41	obl	_	_
40	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	selected	select	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	pin	pin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
47	by	by	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	52	det	_	_
52	pin	pin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	_
53	conveyed	convey	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	conj	_	_
54	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
55	rice	rice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	compound	_	_
56	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obj	_	_
57	by	by	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
58	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	_
59	to	to	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	61	nmod:poss	_	_
61	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | past | I | mine |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent my=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | natural *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is a** | past | natural and a spoon | my surprise |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **notice** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | my wife |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **do** | gerund | I *not said here* | the same |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent same=Eventuality |
| 7 | **draw** | past |  | a little case |  | dinner's pocket |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent case=Theme from pocket=Initial\_Location |
| 8 | **select** | past | dinner | a long pin |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent pin=Theme from which=Source |
| 9 | **convey** | past | dinner *not said here* | dinner's rice grain | dinner's mouth |  |  | by the help of this pin; by grain | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent grain=Topic to mouth=Recipient |
| 10 | **help** |  |  | this pin |  |  |  |  | nom help «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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