--- title: We had been travelling for about a month, when one day we saw a clou… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: We had been travelling for about a month, when one day we saw a cloud of dust moving swiftly towards us; and as soon as it came near, we found that the dust concealed a band of fifty robbers. Who acts: We, cloud, dust. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 8 --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/8/37/) [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/) / 37 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 8, sentence 37 We had been travelling for about a month, when one day we saw a cloud of dust moving swiftly towards us; and as soon as it came near, we found that the dust concealed a band of fifty robbers. **Who acts:** We, cloud, dust · **What happens:** travel, see, move, come, find, conceal · **To what, where:** cloud, band, dust · **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 (We, cloud, dust), 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:pg128:8:37 # text = We had been travelling for about a month, when one day we saw a cloud of dust moving swiftly towards us; and as soon as it came near, we found that the dust concealed a band of fifty robbers. 1 We we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 3 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 4 aux _ _ 4 travelling travel VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 5 for for ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 6 about about ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 7 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 month month NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 10 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 14 advmod _ _ 11 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 12 nummod _ _ 12 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl:unmarked _ _ 13 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 14 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 15 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 cloud cloud NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obj _ _ 17 of of ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 18 dust dust NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nmod _ _ 19 moving move VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 16 acl _ _ 20 swiftly swiftly ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 21 towards towards ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 22 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 19 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 ; ; PUNCT : _ 26 punct _ _ 24 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 25 as as ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 26 soon soon ADV RB Degree=Pos 14 advmod _ _ 27 as as SCONJ IN _ 29 mark _ _ 28 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 29 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 advcl _ _ 30 near near ADV RB _ 29 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 32 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 33 found find VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 advcl _ _ 34 that that SCONJ IN _ 37 mark _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 dust dust NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 nsubj _ _ 37 concealed conceal VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 ccomp _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 band band NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obj _ _ 40 of of ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 fifty fifty NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 42 nummod _ _ 42 robbers robber NOUN NNS Number=Plur 39 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **travel** | past · perfect · progressive | We | | | | month | | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **see** | past | we | a cloud of dust | | | day | soon *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer cloud=Stimulus | | 3 | **move** | gerund | a cloud of dust *not said here* | | | | | towards us; swiftly *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme towards we=Trajectory | | 4 | **come** | past | dust | | | | | near *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **find** | past | we | | | | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 6 | **conceal** | past | the dust | a band of fifty robbers | | | | | vn concealment-16 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent band=Patient | | 7 | **cloud** | | | dust | | | | | nom cloud «phenomenon 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 36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/8/36/) - next →: [sentence 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/8/38/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/8/)