---
title: When we reached the bottom of the stairs we stepped into a sort of a… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: When we reached the bottom of the stairs we stepped into a sort of ante-room, filled with such a dense smoke that it was hardly possible to see anything. Who acts: we, it. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 7, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 7, sentence 112

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When we reached the bottom of the stairs we stepped into a sort of ante-room, filled with such a dense smoke that it was hardly possible to see anything.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** we, it · **What happens:** reach, step, fill, be, see, sort · **To what, where:** bottom, sort, ante room, anything

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, it), 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:pg128:7:112
# text = When we reached the bottom of the stairs we stepped into a sort of ante-room, filled with such a dense smoke that it was hardly possible to see anything.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	3	mark	_	_
2	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	stairs	stair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
9	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	stepped	step	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	into	into	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	sort	sort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	ante	ante	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	filled	fill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	acl	_	_
20	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
21	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	24	det:predet	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	dense	dense	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	smoke	smoke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
28	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	advcl	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	csubj	_	_
32	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reach** | past | we | the bottom of the stairs |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent bottom=Theme |
| 2 | **step** | past | we |  |  | a sort of ante room |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into sort=Destination |
| 3 | **fill** | participle |  | ante room *not said here* |  |  |  | with such dense smoke | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with smoke=Instrument |
| 4 | **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | hardly, possible *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **see** | to-infinitive |  | anything |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer anything=Stimulus |
| 6 | **sort** |  |  | ante room |  |  |  |  | nom sort «cognition 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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