--- title: He mounted first and helped the princess up behind; then, when she w… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: He mounted first and helped the princess up behind; then, when she was firmly seated, with her hands holding tightly to his belt, he touched the screw, and the horse began to leave the earth quickly behind him. Who acts: Prince, hands, horse. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andr --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/39/8/) [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 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/39/) / 8 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 39, sentence 8 He mounted first and helped the princess up behind; then, when she was firmly seated, with her hands holding tightly to his belt, he touched the screw, and the horse began to leave the earth quickly behind him. **Who acts:** Prince, hands, horse · **What happens:** mount, help up, seat, hold, touch, begin · **To what, where:** princess, screw, earth 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, hands, horse), 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:pg128:39:8 # text = He mounted first and helped the princess up behind; then, when she was firmly seated, with her hands holding tightly to his belt, he touched the screw, and the horse began to leave the earth quickly behind him. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 mounted mount VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 first first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 2 advmod _ _ 4 and and CCONJ CC _ 5 cc _ _ 5 helped help VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 princess princess NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ _ 8 up up ADP RP _ 5 compound:prt _ _ 9 behind behind ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 10 ; ; PUNCT : _ 17 punct _ _ 11 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 17 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 13 when when SCONJ WRB _ 17 mark _ _ 14 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 15 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 aux:pass _ _ 16 firmly firmly ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 17 seated seat VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 2 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 19 with with ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 21 nmod:poss _ _ 21 hands hand NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 obl _ _ 22 holding hold VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 21 acl _ _ 23 tightly tightly ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ _ 24 to to ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 26 nmod:poss _ _ 26 belt belt NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 28 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 29 touched touch VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 30 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 screw screw NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 horse horse NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nsubj _ _ 36 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 37 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 38 leave leave VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 xcomp _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 earth earth NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obj _ _ 41 quickly quickly ADV RB _ 38 advmod _ _ 42 behind behind ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 43 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **mount** | past | Prince | | | | | first *property* | vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **help up** | past | Prince *not said here* | | the princess | | | behind *property* | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent princess=Beneficiary | | 3 | **seat** | past · passive | | Princess | | | then | with Princess's hands; firmly *property* | vn fit-54.3 «NP.location V NP»: subject=Value | | 4 | **hold** | gerund | Princess's hands *not said here* | | | | | to Prince's belt; tightly *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **touch** | past | Prince | the screw | | | | | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme screw=Co-Theme | | 6 | **begin** | past | the horse | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 7 | **leave** | to-infinitive | the horse *not said here* | the earth | | | | behind Prince; quickly *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent earth=Theme behind he=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 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/39/7/) - next →: [sentence 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/39/9/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/39/)