--- title: I am doing no harm," he said, "and whoever the owner may be, he will… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: I am doing no harm," he said, "and whoever the owner may be, he will not touch me when he sees I am unarmed," and in dread of making a false step, he went cautiously down the staircase. Who acts: I, Prince, dread. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 37, wi --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/37/94/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Arabian Nights Entertainments](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/) / [Opening, part 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/37/) / 94 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 37, sentence 94 I am doing no harm," he said, "and whoever the owner may be, he will not touch me when he sees I am unarmed," and in dread of making a false step, he went cautiously down the staircase. **Who acts:** I, Prince, dread · **What happens:** do, say, be, not touch, see, make · **To what, where:** harm, whoever, me, false step, staircase · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 37. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, Prince, dread), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg128:37:94 # text = I am doing no harm," he said, "and whoever the owner may be, he will not touch me when he sees I am unarmed," and in dread of making a false step, he went cautiously down the staircase. 1 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ _ 3 doing do VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 9 ccomp _ _ 4 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 5 det _ _ 5 harm harm NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 7 " " PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ 8 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 9 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 11 " " PUNCT '' _ 9 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 13 whoever whoever PRON WP PronType=Rel 9 ccomp _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 owner owner NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nsubj _ _ 16 may may AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 17 aux _ _ 17 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 13 cop _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 19 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 20 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 21 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 22 advmod _ _ 22 touch touch VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 conj _ _ 23 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 22 obj _ _ 24 when when SCONJ WRB _ 26 mark _ _ 25 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 26 sees see VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 22 advcl _ _ 27 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 28 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 29 cop _ _ 29 unarmed unarmed ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 31 " " PUNCT '' _ 29 punct _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 33 in in ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 34 dread dread NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 conj _ _ 35 of of SCONJ IN _ 36 mark _ _ 36 making make VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 34 acl _ _ 37 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 38 false false ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 amod _ _ 39 step step NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 41 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 nsubj _ _ 42 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 43 cautiously cautiously ADV RB _ 42 advmod _ _ 44 down down ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 staircase staircase NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **do** | present · progressive | I | no harm | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent harm=Eventuality | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | Prince | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **is a** | infinitive | | whoever | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **not** **touch** | future | Prince | me | | | | | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme i=Co-Theme | | 5 | **see** | present | Prince | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **is** | present | I | | | | | unarmed *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **make** *in a quote* | gerund | dread *not said here* | a false step | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset step=Product | | 8 | **go** *in a quote* | past | Prince | | | the staircase | | cautiously *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme down staircase=Initial\_Location | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 93](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/37/93/) - next →: [sentence 95](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/37/95/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/37/)