---
title: But what I liked best of all was writing Arabic characters, and in t… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: But what I liked best of all was writing Arabic characters, and in this I soon surpassed my masters, and gained a reputation in this branch of knowledge that reached as far as India itself. Who acts: I, best, knowledge. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 8, sentence 33

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But what I liked best of all was writing Arabic characters, and in this I soon surpassed my masters, and gained a reputation in this branch of knowledge that reached as far as India itself.

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**Who acts:** I, best, knowledge · **What happens:** like, write, surpass, gain, reach · **To what, where:** Arabic characters, masters, reputation

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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 (I, best, knowledge), 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:pg128:8:33
# text = But what I liked best of all was writing Arabic characters, and in this I soon surpassed my masters, and gained a reputation in this branch of knowledge that reached as far as India itself.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	liked	like	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	9	nsubj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	nmod	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	writing	write	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	ccomp	_	_
10	Arabic	Arabic	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	characters	character	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	18	obl	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	18	advmod	_	_
18	surpassed	surpass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
19	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	masters	master	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	gained	gain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	parataxis	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	reputation	reputation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	28	det	_	_
28	branch	branch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
31	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj	_	_
32	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	acl:relcl	_	_
33	as	as	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	32	advmod	_	_
35	as	as	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	India	India	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
37	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	36	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **like** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **write** | past · progressive | best of all | Arabic characters |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent character=Theme |
| 3 | **surpass** | past | I | my masters |  |  |  | in this; soon *property* | vn exceed-90 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot master=Theme in this=Attribute |
| 4 | **gain** | past |  | a reputation |  |  |  | in this branch of knowledge | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute NP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: agent=Patient reputation=Extent in branch=Attribute |
| 5 | **reach** | past | knowledge |  |  |  |  | far *property* | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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