---
title: I really did not want the bread at all, but felt it would be ungraci… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: I really did not want the bread at all, but felt it would be ungracious to refuse, so I ate it slowly, in order that he might see that I only did it out of politeness. Who acts: I, it, dog. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 35, with its dependency tree a
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 35, sentence 27

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I really did not want the bread at all, but felt it would be ungracious to refuse, so I ate it slowly, in order that he might see that I only did it out of politeness.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, it, dog · **What happens:** not want, feel, be, refuse, eat, see · **To what, where:** bread, all, order, politeness

<!-- .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, it, dog), 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:pg128:35:27
# text = I really did not want the bread at all, but felt it would be ungracious to refuse, so I ate it slowly, in order that he might see that I only did it out of politeness.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	really	really	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	want	want	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	cop	_	_
16	ungracious	ungracious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	xcomp	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	refuse	refuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	acl	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
33	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	only	only	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	advcl	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	_
37	out	out	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	politeness	politeness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **want** | past · do-support | I | the bread |  | all |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot bread=Theme |
| 2 | **feel** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **is** | would | it |  |  |  |  | ungracious *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **refuse** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **eat** | past | I | bread |  | order |  | slowly *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 6 | **see** | might | dog | order *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer order=Stimulus |
| 7 | **do** | past | I | bread |  | politeness |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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