---
title: But just as he was about to touch it with his whip, he was stopped b… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: But just as he was about to touch it with his whip, he was stopped by a cry from the princess. Who acts: horse, cry. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 41, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 41, sentence 79

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But just as he was about to touch it with his whip, he was stopped by a cry from the princess.

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**Who acts:** horse, cry · **What happens:** be, touch, stop · **To what, where:** attempt, horse

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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 (horse, cry), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg128:41:79
# text = But just as he was about to touch it with his whip, he was stopped by a cry from the princess.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	just	just	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	touch	touch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	whip	whip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	stopped	stop	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	_
17	by	by	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	cry	cry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
20	from	from	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | horse |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **touch** | to-infinitive | horse *not said here* | attempt |  |  |  | with horse's whip | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent it=Theme with whip=Instrument |
| 3 | **stop** | past · passive | a cry from the princess | horse |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality subject=Eventuality |

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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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