---
title: The first thing he did was to sell his furniture and the wares he ha… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: The first thing he did was to sell his furniture and the wares he had in his shop, only reserving to himself such goods as he might trade with on the road. Who acts: he, first thing. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 36, with its dependency tree and the 
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 36, sentence 1

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The first thing he did was to sell his furniture and the wares he had in his shop, only reserving to himself such goods as he might trade with on the road.

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**Who acts:** he, first thing · **What happens:** do, be, have, reserve, trade · **To what, where:** first thing, furniture, shop, such goods, himself

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 36. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (he, first thing), 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:pg128:36:1
# text = The first thing he did was to sell his furniture and the wares he had in his shop, only reserving to himself such goods as he might trade with on the road.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	amod	_	_
3	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	sell	sell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	furniture	furniture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	wares	ware	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	conj	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	shop	shop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	only	only	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	reserving	reserve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	21	obl	_	_
24	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	goods	goods	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	21	obj	_	_
26	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	trade	trade	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	on	on	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | he | the first thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is** | past | the first thing |  |  |  |  | sell *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | past | he | his furniture and the wares *not said here* |  | his shop |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent furniture=Patient |
| 4 | **reserve** | gerund | the first thing *not said here* | such goods | himself *= he* |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent goods=Theme |
| 5 | **trade** | might | he |  |  |  |  | with the road | vn exchange-13.6.1 «NP V NP PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with road=Co-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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