---
title: But yesterday, I was in my father's court, engaged in the celebratio… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: But yesterday, I was in my father's court, engaged in the celebration of our most solemn festival; to-day, I am in an unknown land, in danger of my life." Who acts: I. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 38, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 38, sentence 11

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But yesterday, I was in my father's court, engaged in the celebration of our most solemn festival; to-day, I am in an unknown land, in danger of my life."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** be, engage, celebrate · **To what, where:** court, yesterday, celebration, unknown land, solemn festival

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 38. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (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:pg128:38:11
# text = But yesterday, I was in my father's court, engaged in the celebration of our most solemn festival; to-day, I am in an unknown land, in danger of my life."
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
2	yesterday	yesterday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	court	court	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	engaged	engage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	celebration	celebration	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
17	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
18	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	19	advmod	_	_
19	solemn	solemn	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	festival	festival	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
26	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
27	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	unknown	unknown	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	appos	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	31	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | I |  |  | my father's court |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **engage** | participle · passive |  | yesterday and my father's court |  |  |  | in the celebration of our solemn festival *goal* | vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP PP.goal»: subject=Theme in celebration=Goal |
| 3 | **is** | present | I |  |  | a unknown land | day |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **celebrate** |  |  | our solemn festival |  |  |  |  | nom celebration «event transitive»: of=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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