---
title: So by means of a false story made up on the spur of the moment, it w… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: So by means of a false story made up on the spur of the moment, it was easy enough to get hold of a dervish's dress, which the prince at once put on, instead of his own. Who acts: hold. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 39, with its dependency tree and t
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/39/43/)

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 39, sentence 43

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So by means of a false story made up on the spur of the moment, it was easy enough to get hold of a dervish's dress, which the prince at once put on, instead of his own.

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**Who acts:** hold · **What happens:** mean, make up, be, get, prince, put on · **To what, where:** false story, spur, hold, moment, dress

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (hold), 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:pg128:39:43
# text = So by means of a false story made up on the spur of the moment, it was easy enough to get hold of a dervish's dress, which the prince at once put on, instead of his own.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	by	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	false	false	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	_
9	up	up	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	spur	spur	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	expl	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
20	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	csubj	_	_
23	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	dervish	dervish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	's	's	PART	POS	_	26	case	_	_
28	dress	dress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	conj	_	_
33	at	at	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
34	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	35	advmod	_	_
35	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	xcomp	_	_
36	on	on	ADP	RP	_	35	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
38	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	41	case	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	fixed	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present |  |  |  |  |  | of a false story | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **make up** | participle |  | a false story *not said here* |  | the spur of the moment |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | easy, enough *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **get** | to-infinitive |  | hold of a dervish's dress and the prince |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **prince** |  | hold of a dervish's dress and the prince |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **put on** | participle | hold of a dervish's dress and the prince *not said here* |  |  |  |  | once *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **spur** |  |  | the moment |  |  |  |  | nom spur «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 8 | **hold** |  |  | a dervish's dress |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act 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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