---
title: These words were the gayest and liveliest possible, and every now an… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: These words were the gayest and liveliest possible, and every now and then the singers had to stop to indulge the laughter which almost choked them. Who acts: words, singers, laughter. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 6, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 6, sentence 67

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
These words were the gayest and liveliest possible, and every now and then the singers had to stop to indulge the laughter which almost choked them.

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**Who acts:** words, singers, laughter · **What happens:** be, have, stop, indulge, choke · **To what, where:** laughter, singers

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (words, singers, laughter), 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:pg128:6:67
# text = These words were the gayest and liveliest possible, and every now and then the singers had to stop to indulge the laughter which almost choked them.
1	These	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	gayest	gay	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	liveliest	lively	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	conj	_	_
8	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	conj	_	_
12	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	17	advmod	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	17	advmod	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	singers	singer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	indulge	indulge	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	laughter	laughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
25	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	choked	choke	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
27	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | this words |  |  |  |  | gay *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | this words *not said here* |  |  |  |  | possible *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | past | the singers |  |  |  | now; then |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **stop** | to-infinitive | the singers *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **indulge** | to-infinitive | the singers *not said here* | the laughter |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **choke** | past | the laughter | singers *= singer* |  |  |  | almost *property* | vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme they=Destination |

<!-- .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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