--- title: While the old woman was eating, the princess put several questions t… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: While the old woman was eating, the princess put several questions to her as to her mode of life, and the pious exercises she practiced, and then inquired what she thought of the house now that she had seen it. Who acts: old woman, princess, pious exercises. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Enterta --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/41/46/) [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 41](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/41/) / 46 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 41, sentence 46 While the old woman was eating, the princess put several questions to her as to her mode of life, and the pious exercises she practiced, and then inquired what she thought of the house now that she had seen it. **Who acts:** old woman, princess, pious exercises · **What happens:** eat, put, practice, inquire, think, see · **To what, where:** several questions, woman, house · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (old woman, princess, pious exercises), 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:pg128:41:46 # text = While the old woman was eating, the princess put several questions to her as to her mode of life, and the pious exercises she practiced, and then inquired what she thought of the house now that she had seen it. 1 While while SCONJ IN _ 6 mark _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 3 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 4 woman woman NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nsubj _ _ 5 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 aux _ _ 6 eating eat VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 10 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 princess princess NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nsubj _ _ 10 put put VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 11 several several ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 12 questions question NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 obj _ _ 13 to to ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 14 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 obl _ _ 15 as as ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 16 to to ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 18 nmod:poss _ _ 18 mode mode NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obl _ _ 19 of of ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 20 life life NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 24 pious pious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 25 exercises exercise NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 nsubj _ _ 26 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 27 practiced practice VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 30 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 31 advmod _ _ 31 inquired inquire VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 conj _ _ 32 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 34 obj _ _ 33 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 34 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 advcl _ _ 35 of of ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 house house NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obl _ _ 38 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 42 advmod _ _ 39 that that SCONJ IN _ 42 mark _ _ 40 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 nsubj _ _ 41 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 42 aux _ _ 42 seen see VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 34 ccomp _ _ 43 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 10 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **eat** | past · progressive | the old woman | | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **put** | past | the princess | several questions | woman | | | as woman's mode of life | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent question=Goal | | 3 | **practice** | past | the pious exercises | | | | | | vn rehearse-26.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **inquire** *speech: other* | past | the pious exercises *not said here* | | | | then | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **think** *speech: other* | past | princess | | | | | of the house | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent what=Attribute clause=Theme | | 6 | **see** | past · perfect | princess | house | | | now | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus | 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 45](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/41/45/) - next →: [sentence 47](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/41/47/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 41](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/41/)