---
title: In fact, it was only a month before Ali Cogia's actual return that t… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: In fact, it was only a month before Ali Cogia's actual return that the affair came into his head at all, owing to his wife's remarking one day, that it was a long time since she had eaten any olives, and would like some. Who acts: fact, affair, wife, Ali Cogia. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Ente
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 36, sentence 21

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In fact, it was only a month before Ali Cogia's actual return that the affair came into his head at all, owing to his wife's remarking one day, that it was a long time since she had eaten any olives, and would like some.

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**Who acts:** fact, affair, wife, Ali Cogia · **What happens:** be, come, owe, remark, eat, like · **To what, where:** month, fact, actual return, head, wife, long time

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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 (fact, affair, wife, Ali Cogia), 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:pg128:36:21
# text = In fact, it was only a month before Ali Cogia's actual return that the affair came into his head at all, owing to his wife's remarking one day, that it was a long time since she had eaten any olives, and would like some.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	month	month	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
9	before	before	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
10	Ali	Ali	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	Cogia	Cogia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	actual	actual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	return	return	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	affair	affair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
19	into	into	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	at	at	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	owing	owe	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	's	's	PART	POS	_	28	case	_	_
30	remarking	remark	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	conj	_	_
31	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	nummod	_	_
32	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
34	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl:unmarked	_	_
40	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
41	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
42	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	39	acl:relcl	_	_
44	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	45	det	_	_
45	olives	olive	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
48	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
50	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	49	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | fact | a month |  | fact | before Ali Cogia's actual return |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **come** | past | the affair | Ali Cogia's actual return *not said here* |  | Ali's head at all |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location return=Theme |
| 3 | **owe** | gerund | the affair *not said here* |  | Ali's wife |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to wife=Goal |
| 4 | **remark** *speech: assert* | gerund | the affair *not said here* |  |  |  | day |  | vn lecture-37.11-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is a** | past | affair | a long time |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **eat** | past · perfect | wife | any olives |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent olive=Patient |
| 7 | **like** | would | fact *not said here* | some |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot some=Theme |
| 8 | **return** |  | Ali Cogia |  |  |  |  |  | nom return «communication intransitive»: poss=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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