--- title: I crept down the little staircase, and made directly for a light whi… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: I crept down the little staircase, and made directly for a light which I perceived through an open door--I peeped cautiously in, and saw, as you will guess, the eunuchs lying asleep on the floor. Who acts: I, you, eunuchs. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, pa --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/38/49/) [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 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/38/) / 49 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 38, sentence 49 I crept down the little staircase, and made directly for a light which I perceived through an open door--I peeped cautiously in, and saw, as you will guess, the eunuchs lying asleep on the floor. **Who acts:** I, you, eunuchs · **What happens:** creep, make, perceive, peep, see, guess · **To what, where:** little staircase, light, open door, eunuchs, floor 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, you, eunuchs), 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:pg128:38:49 # text = I crept down the little staircase, and made directly for a light which I perceived through an open door--I peeped cautiously in, and saw, as you will guess, the eunuchs lying asleep on the floor. 1 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 crept creep VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 down down ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 5 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 staircase staircase NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 8 and and CCONJ CC _ 9 cc _ _ 9 made make VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 10 directly directly ADV RB _ 9 advmod _ _ 11 for for ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 light light NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl _ _ 14 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 16 obj _ _ 15 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 16 nsubj _ _ 16 perceived perceive VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 acl:relcl _ _ 17 through through ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 18 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 19 open open ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 door door NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 -- -- PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 22 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 23 peeped peep VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 24 cautiously cautiously ADV RB _ 23 advmod _ _ 25 in in ADV RB _ 23 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 27 and and CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 28 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 30 as as SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 31 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 32 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 33 aux _ _ 33 guess guess VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 28 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 eunuchs eunuch NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 obj _ _ 37 lying lie VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 36 acl _ _ 38 asleep asleep ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 xcomp _ _ 39 on on ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 floor floor NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **creep** | past | I | | | the little staircase | | | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme down staircase=Trajectory | | 2 | **make** | past | I *not said here* | | | | | for a light; directly *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP P.asset»: agent=Agent for light=Asset | | 3 | **perceive** | past | I | a light | | a open door | | | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer which=Stimulus | | 4 | **peep** | past | I | | | | | cautiously *property* | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **see** | past | | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **guess** | future | you | the eunuchs | | | | | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eunuch=Theme | | 7 | **lie** | gerund | the eunuchs *not said here* | | | the floor | | asleep *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on floor=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 48](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/38/48/) - next →: [sentence 50](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/38/50/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/38/)