---
title: Five or six months passed away in the pleasures of the country, when… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Five or six months passed away in the pleasures of the country, when death attacked the intendant so suddenly that he had no time to reveal the secret of their birth to his adopted children, and as his wife had long been dead also, it seemed as if the princes and the princess would never know that t
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 41, sentence 37

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Five or six months passed away in the pleasures of the country, when death attacked the intendant so suddenly that he had no time to reveal the secret of their birth to his adopted children, and as his wife had long been dead also, it seemed as if the princes and the princess would never know that they had been born to a higher station than the one they filled.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** death, wife, it, princes, children · **What happens:** pass away, attack, have, reveal, adopt, be · **To what, where:** Five months, pleasures, intendant, secret, adopted children, children · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 41. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (death, wife, it, princes), 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:pg128:41:37
# text = Five or six months passed away in the pleasures of the country, when death attacked the intendant so suddenly that he had no time to reveal the secret of their birth to his adopted children, and as his wife had long been dead also, it seemed as if the princes and the princess would never know that they had been born to a higher station than the one they filled.
1	Five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
2	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	1	conj	_	_
4	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl:unmarked	_	_
5	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	away	away	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	pleasures	pleasure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	16	advmod	_	_
15	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	attacked	attack	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	intendant	intendant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	advcl	_	_
24	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	25	det	_	_
25	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	reveal	reveal	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	acl	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	secret	secret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
35	adopted	adopt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	amod	_	_
36	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
39	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	_
42	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
43	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	45	advmod	_	_
44	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	45	cop	_	_
45	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	advcl	_	_
46	also	also	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
48	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
49	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	_
50	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	59	mark	_	_
51	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	59	mark	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	princes	prince	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	59	nsubj	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	conj	_	_
57	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	59	aux	_	_
58	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	59	advmod	_	_
59	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	xcomp	_	_
60	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	64	mark	_	_
61	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	64	nsubj:pass	_	_
62	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	64	aux	_	_
63	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	64	aux:pass	_	_
64	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	59	ccomp	_	_
65	to	to	ADP	IN	_	68	case	_	_
66	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	68	det	_	_
67	higher	high	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	68	amod	_	_
68	station	station	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	obl	_	_
69	than	than	ADP	IN	_	71	case	_	_
70	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	71	det	_	_
71	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	68	nmod	_	_
72	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	73	nsubj	_	_
73	filled	fill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	71	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass away** | participle |  | Five months *not said here* |  | the pleasures of the country |  | away *property* | vn die-42.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **attack** | past | death | the intendant |  |  | month | suddenly *property* | vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent intendant=Patient |
| 3 | **have** | past | death |  |  |  | time |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **reveal** | to-infinitive | death *not said here* | the secret of pleasures's birth | death's adopted children |  |  |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent secret=Topic to child=Recipient |
| 5 | **adopt** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** | past · perfect | death's wife |  |  |  |  | dead, long *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **seem** | past | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 8 | **not** **know** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | the princes and the princess |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 9 | **bear** | past · perfect · passive |  | children *= child* |  |  |  | to a higher station than the one | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 10 | **fill** | past | children *= child* | the one *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent one=Patient |
| 11 | **please** |  |  | the country |  |  |  |  | nom pleasure «feeling 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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