--- title: He raised the door and I caught sight of the top of a spiral stairca… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: He raised the door and I caught sight of the top of a spiral staircase; then he said, turning to the lady, "Madam, this is the way that will lead you down to the spot which I told you of." Who acts: prince, I, this, way. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/7/71/) [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 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/7/) / 71 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 7, sentence 71 He raised the door and I caught sight of the top of a spiral staircase; then he said, turning to the lady, "Madam, this is the way that will lead you down to the spot which I told you of." **Who acts:** prince, I, this, way · **What happens:** raise, catch, say, turn, be, lead down · **To what, where:** door, sight, Madam, way, you, spot · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (prince, I, this, way), 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:pg128:7:71 # text = He raised the door and I caught sight of the top of a spiral staircase; then he said, turning to the lady, "Madam, this is the way that will lead you down to the spot which I told you of." 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 raised raise VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 door door NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obj _ _ 5 and and CCONJ CC _ 7 cc _ _ 6 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 7 caught catch VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 8 sight sight NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ _ 9 of of ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 top top NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nmod _ _ 12 of of ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 13 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 14 spiral spiral ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 15 staircase staircase NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 16 ; ; PUNCT : _ 19 punct _ _ 17 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 19 advmod _ _ 18 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 21 turning turn VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 19 advcl _ _ 22 to to ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 lady lady NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 26 " " PUNCT `` _ 27 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 27 Madam madam NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 29 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 32 nsubj _ _ 30 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 32 cop _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 ccomp _ _ 33 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 35 nsubj _ _ 34 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 35 aux _ _ 35 lead lead VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 32 acl:relcl _ _ 36 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 35 obj _ _ 37 down down ADP RP _ 35 compound:prt _ _ 38 to to ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 spot spot NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ _ 41 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 43 obj _ _ 42 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 43 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 40 acl:relcl _ _ 44 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 43 iobj _ _ 45 of of ADP IN _ 43 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 47 " " PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **raise** | past | prince | the door | | | | | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent door=Theme | | 2 | **catch** | past | I | sight of the top of a spiral staircase | | | | | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sight=Theme | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | prince | | | | then | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **turn** | gerund | prince *not said here* | Madam | | | | to the lady *result* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to lady=Result | | 5 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | this | the way | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **lead down** *in a quote* | future | the way | you | | the spot | | | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent you=Theme to spot=Destination | | 7 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | prince | the spot | you | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient which=Topic | | 8 | **sight** | | | the top of a spiral staircase | | | | | nom sight «cognition transitive»: of=patient | 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 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/7/70/) - next →: [sentence 72](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/7/72/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/7/)