---
title: Before gobbling it up, as most dogs are in the habit of doing, I bow… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Before gobbling it up, as most dogs are in the habit of doing, I bowed my head and wagged my tail, in token of thanks, and he understood, and smiled pleasantly. Who acts: I, most dogs, habit, dog. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 35, with its dependency
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 35, sentence 26

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Before gobbling it up, as most dogs are in the habit of doing, I bowed my head and wagged my tail, in token of thanks, and he understood, and smiled pleasantly.

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**Who acts:** I, most dogs, habit, dog · **What happens:** gobble up, be, do, bow, wag, understand · **To what, where:** breakfast, habit, head, tail

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 35. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, most dogs, habit, dog), 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:pg128:35:26
# text = Before gobbling it up, as most dogs are in the habit of doing, I bowed my head and wagged my tail, in token of thanks, and he understood, and smiled pleasantly.
1	Before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	gobbling	gobble	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	up	up	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
6	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
7	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	8	amod	_	_
8	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
9	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	habit	habit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
13	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
14	doing	do	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	bowed	bow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	wagged	wag	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
22	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	token	token	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	thanks	thanks	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	understood	understand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	smiled	smile	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	parataxis	_	_
36	pleasantly	pleasantly	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **gobble up** | gerund | I *not said here* | breakfast |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present | most dogs |  |  | the habit |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **do** | gerund | the habit *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **bow** | past | I | my head |  |  |  |  | vn curtsey-40.3.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Topic |
| 5 | **wag** | past | I *not said here* | my tail |  |  |  | in token of thanks | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: agent=Agent tail=Patient in token=Topic |
| 6 | **understand** | past | dog |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **smile** | past |  |  |  |  |  | pleasantly *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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