--- title: My uncle fought hard for his life, but was soon overpowered, and whe… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: My uncle fought hard for his life, but was soon overpowered, and when he fell I managed to escape through a secret passage, and took refuge with an officer whom I knew I could trust. Who acts: uncle, I. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 8, with its depen --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/8/12/) [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 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/8/) / 12 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 8, sentence 12 My uncle fought hard for his life, but was soon overpowered, and when he fell I managed to escape through a secret passage, and took refuge with an officer whom I knew I could trust. **Who acts:** uncle, I · **What happens:** fight, overpower, fall, manage, escape, take · **To what, where:** secret passage, refuge, officer · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (uncle, I), 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:pg128:8:12 # text = My uncle fought hard for his life, but was soon overpowered, and when he fell I managed to escape through a secret passage, and took refuge with an officer whom I knew I could trust. 1 My my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 2 nmod:poss _ _ 2 uncle uncle NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 fought fight VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 hard hard ADV RB Degree=Pos 3 advmod _ _ 5 for for ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 7 nmod:poss _ _ 7 life life NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 9 but but CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 10 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 aux:pass _ _ 11 soon soon ADV RB Degree=Pos 12 advmod _ _ 12 overpowered overpower VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 15 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 17 advmod _ _ 16 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 17 fell fall VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 advcl _ _ 18 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 managed manage VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 20 to to PART TO _ 21 mark _ _ 21 escape escape VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 19 xcomp _ _ 22 through through ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 23 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 24 secret secret ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 25 passage passage NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 27 and and CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 28 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 29 refuge refuge NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obj _ _ 30 with with ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 officer officer NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obl _ _ 33 whom whom PRON WP PronType=Rel 35 obj _ _ 34 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 acl:relcl _ _ 36 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 37 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 38 aux _ _ 38 trust trust VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 35 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 39 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **fight** | past | My uncle | | | | | for uncle's life; hard *property* | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **overpower** | past · passive | My uncle *not said here* | | | | | soon *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **fall** | past | uncle | | | | | | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **manage** | past | I | | | | | | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 5 | **escape** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | | | a secret passage | | | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme through passage=Initial\_Location | | 6 | **take** | past | My uncle *not said here* | refuge | | | | with a officer | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent refuge=Theme | | 7 | **know** | past | I | a officer | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **trust** | could | I | | | | | | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | 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 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/8/11/) - next →: [sentence 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/8/13/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/8/)