---
title: As he said this the prince was about to throw himself at the feet of… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: As he said this the prince was about to throw himself at the feet of the Sultan, but his father prevented him, and embracing him again, said eagerly: Who acts: Prince, father. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 39, with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 39, sentence 19

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
As he said this the prince was about to throw himself at the feet of the Sultan, but his father prevented him, and embracing him again, said eagerly:

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**Who acts:** Prince, father · **What happens:** say, be, throw, prevent, embrace · **To what, where:** this, Prince, feet · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 39. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Prince, father), 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:pg128:39:19
# text = As he said this the prince was about to throw himself at the feet of the Sultan, but his father prevented him, and embracing him again, said eagerly:
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	advcl	_	_
4	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	obj	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	throw	throw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	10	obj	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	prevented	prevent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	embracing	embrace	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	again	again	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
30	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
31	eagerly	eagerly	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Prince | this |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent this=Topic |
| 2 | **is** | past | the prince |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **throw** | to-infinitive | the prince *not said here* | Prince |  | the feet of the Sultan |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent himself=Theme at foot=Destination |
| 4 | **prevent** | past | Prince's father | Prince |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer he=Theme |
| 5 | **embrace** | gerund | Prince's father *not said here* | Prince |  |  | again |  | vn marry-36.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Co-Agent |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  | eagerly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=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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