---
title: The neighbours, very naturally, declined to believe his story, and t… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: The neighbours, very naturally, declined to believe his story, and tried me several times with all the bad money they could collect together, but I never failed to stand the test triumphantly. Who acts: neighbours, I. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 35
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 35, sentence 44

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The neighbours, very naturally, declined to believe his story, and tried me several times with all the bad money they could collect together, but I never failed to stand the test triumphantly.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** neighbours, I · **What happens:** decline, not believe, try, collect, not fail, stand · **To what, where:** story, me, bad money, test

<!-- .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 (neighbours, 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:pg128:35:44
# text = The neighbours, very naturally, declined to believe his story, and tried me several times with all the bad money they could collect together, but I never failed to stand the test triumphantly.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	neighbours	neighbour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	naturally	naturally	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
7	declined	decline	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
15	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl:unmarked	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
19	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	22	det:predet	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	collect	collect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	acl:relcl	_	_
26	together	together	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
29	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
31	failed	fail	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	test	test	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
36	triumphantly	triumphantly	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **decline** | past | the neighbours |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **believe** | to-infinitive | the neighbours *not said here* | man's story |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer story=Stimulus |
| 3 | **try** | past | the neighbours *not said here* | me |  |  | time | with all bad money | vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP PP.theme PP.attribute»: agent=Agent i=Patient with money=Theme |
| 4 | **collect** | could | neighbours *= neighbour* | all bad money *not said here* |  |  |  | together *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent money=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **fail** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **stand** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | the test |  |  |  | triumphantly *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer test=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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