---
title: By this time not only the casual passers-by, but also the neighbouri… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: By this time not only the casual passers-by, but also the neighbouring merchants, were standing round, listening to the dispute, and trying every now and then to smooth matters between them. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 36, with its dependency tree 
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 36, sentence 77

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By this time not only the casual passers-by, but also the neighbouring merchants, were standing round, listening to the dispute, and trying every now and then to smooth matters between them.

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**What happens:** stand, listen, try, smooth · **To what, where:** every, matters

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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: 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:pg128:36:77
# text = By this time not only the casual passers-by, but also the neighbouring merchants, were standing round, listening to the dispute, and trying every now and then to smooth matters between them.
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	casual	casual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	passers	passer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	also	also	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	neighbouring	neighbouring	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	merchants	merchant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
18	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
20	round	round	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	listening	listen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	conj	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	dispute	dispute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	conj	_	_
29	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	28	obj	_	_
30	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	28	advmod	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	30	conj	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	smooth	smooth	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	advcl	_	_
35	matters	matter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	_
36	between	between	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past · progressive |  |  |  |  | time | round *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **listen** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | to the dispute | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to dispute=Theme |
| 3 | **try** | gerund |  | every |  |  | now |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent every=Eventuality |
| 4 | **smooth** | to-infinitive |  | matters |  |  |  | between passers *= passer* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent matter=Patient |

<!-- .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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