--- title: My father, who was deeply anxious to secure the friendship of so pow… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: My father, who was deeply anxious to secure the friendship of so powerful a monarch, and held besides that a little travel would greatly improve my manners and open my mind, accepted gladly, and in a short time I had set out for India with the ambassador, attended only by a small suite on account of --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/8/35/) [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/) / 35 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 8, sentence 35 My father, who was deeply anxious to secure the friendship of so powerful a monarch, and held besides that a little travel would greatly improve my manners and open my mind, accepted gladly, and in a short time I had set out for India with the ambassador, attended only by a small suite on account of the length of the journey, and the badness of the roads. **Who acts:** father, little travel, I, my · **What happens:** be, secure, hold, improve, open, accept · **To what, where:** friendship, besides, mind, ambassador, length 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 (father, little travel, I, my), 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:pg128:8:35 # text = My father, who was deeply anxious to secure the friendship of so powerful a monarch, and held besides that a little travel would greatly improve my manners and open my mind, accepted gladly, and in a short time I had set out for India with the ambassador, attended only by a small suite on account of the length of the journey, and the badness of the roads. 1 My my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 2 nmod:poss _ _ 2 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 4 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 7 nsubj _ _ 5 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 cop _ _ 6 deeply deeply ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _ 7 anxious anxious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 2 conj _ _ 8 to to PART TO _ 9 mark _ _ 9 secure secure VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 7 advcl _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 friendship friendship NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obj _ _ 12 of of ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 13 so so ADV RB _ 14 advmod _ _ 14 powerful powerful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 16 amod _ _ 15 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 monarch monarch NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 19 held hold VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 acl:relcl _ _ 20 besides beside NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 obj _ _ 21 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 27 obj _ _ 22 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 23 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 amod _ _ 24 travel travel NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nsubj _ _ 25 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 26 greatly greatly ADV RB _ 27 advmod _ _ 27 improve improve VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 20 acl:relcl _ _ 28 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 29 nmod:poss _ _ 29 manners manners NOUN NNS Number=Ptan 27 obj _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 31 open open VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 27 conj _ _ 32 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 33 nmod:poss _ _ 33 mind mind NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 35 accepted accept VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 36 gladly gladly ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 39 in in ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 40 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 41 short short ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 amod _ _ 42 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obl _ _ 43 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 45 nsubj _ _ 44 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 45 set set VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 35 conj _ _ 46 out out ADP RP _ 45 compound:prt _ _ 47 for for ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 48 India India PROPN NNP Number=Sing 45 obl _ _ 49 with with ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 50 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 51 det _ _ 51 ambassador ambassador NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 52 , , PUNCT , _ 53 punct _ _ 53 attended attend VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 51 acl _ _ 54 only only ADV RB _ 58 advmod _ _ 55 by by ADP IN _ 58 case _ _ 56 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 58 det _ _ 57 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 58 amod _ _ 58 suite suite NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 obl _ _ 59 on on ADP IN _ 60 case _ _ 60 account account NOUN NN Number=Sing 58 nmod _ _ 61 of of ADP IN _ 63 case _ _ 62 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 63 det _ _ 63 length length NOUN NN Number=Sing 60 nmod _ _ 64 of of ADP IN _ 66 case _ _ 65 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 66 det _ _ 66 journey journey NOUN NN Number=Sing 63 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 67 , , PUNCT , _ 70 punct _ _ 68 and and CCONJ CC _ 70 cc _ _ 69 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 70 det _ _ 70 badness badness NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 parataxis _ _ 71 of of ADP IN _ 73 case _ _ 72 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 73 det _ _ 73 roads road NOUN NNS Number=Plur 70 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 74 . . PUNCT . _ 35 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | My father | | | | | anxious, deeply *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **secure** | to-infinitive | My father *not said here* | the friendship of a powerful monarch | | | | | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition friendship=Theme | | 3 | **hold** | past | My father *not said here* | besides | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent beside=Theme | | 4 | **improve** | would | a little travel | besides | | | | greatly *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **open** | infinitive | a little travel *not said here* | my mind | | | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location mind=Theme | | 6 | **accept** | past | My father | | | | | gladly *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **set out** | past · perfect | I | | | | time | for India; with the ambassador | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **attend** | participle | | the ambassador *not said here* | | | | by a small suite on account of the length of the journey | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent by suite=Theme | | 9 | **mind** | | my | | | | | | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent | | 10 | **account** | | | the length of the journey | | | | | nom account «communication 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 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/8/34/) - next →: [sentence 36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/8/36/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/8/)