---
title: They passed by me without noticing me, began to dig up a corpse whic… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: They passed by me without noticing me, began to dig up a corpse which had been buried that day, and then sat down on the edge of the grave, to enjoy their frightful repast, talking quietly and cheerfully all the while, though I was too far off to hear what they said. Who acts: wife, I. A sentence of
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/34/94/)

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 34, sentence 94

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They passed by me without noticing me, began to dig up a corpse which had been buried that day, and then sat down on the edge of the grave, to enjoy their frightful repast, talking quietly and cheerfully all the while, though I was too far off to hear what they said.

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**Who acts:** wife, I · **What happens:** pass, notice, begin, dig up, bury, sit down · **To what, where:** me, corpse, edge, frightful repast · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (wife, I), 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:pg128:34:94
# text = They passed by me without noticing me, began to dig up a corpse which had been buried that day, and then sat down on the edge of the grave, to enjoy their frightful repast, talking quietly and cheerfully all the while, though I was too far off to hear what they said.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	by	by	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
5	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	noticing	notice	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
7	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	dig	dig	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	up	up	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	corpse	corpse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
15	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	buried	bury	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	acl:relcl	_	_
19	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	det	_	_
20	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	24	advmod	_	_
24	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
25	down	down	ADP	RP	_	24	compound:prt	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	edge	edge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	grave	grave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	enjoy	enjoy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	advcl	_	_
35	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
36	frightful	frightful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	repast	repast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
39	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	34	advcl	_	_
40	quietly	quietly	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	cheerfully	cheerfully	ADV	RB	_	40	conj	_	_
43	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	45	det:predet	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	while	while	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
47	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
48	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
49	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	cop	_	_
50	too	too	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
51	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	52	advmod	_	_
52	off	off	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	_
53	to	to	PART	TO	_	54	mark	_	_
54	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	advcl	_	_
55	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	57	obj	_	_
56	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	nsubj	_	_
57	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | past | wife |  |  |  |  | by me | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme by i=Location |
| 2 | **notice** | gerund | wife *not said here* | me |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer i=Stimulus |
| 3 | **begin** | past | wife *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **dig up** | to-infinitive | wife *not said here* | a corpse |  |  |  |  | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent corpse=Theme |
| 5 | **bury** | past · perfect · passive |  | a corpse |  |  | day |  | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 6 | **sit down** | past | wife *not said here* |  |  | the edge of the grave | then |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on edge=Location |
| 7 | **enjoy** | to-infinitive | wife *not said here* | wife's frightful repast |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer repast=Stimulus |
| 8 | **talk** | gerund | wife *not said here* |  |  |  | while | quietly *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  |  | hear, off *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | wife |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

<!-- .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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