---
title: The dervish did as he was asked without delay, and directly they wer… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: The dervish did as he was asked without delay, and directly they were alone together the envious man began to tell a long story, edging, as they walked to and fro, always nearer to the well, and when they were quite close, he seized the dervish and dropped him in. Who acts: dervish, houses, envious 
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 9, sentence 55

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The dervish did as he was asked without delay, and directly they were alone together the envious man began to tell a long story, edging, as they walked to and fro, always nearer to the well, and when they were quite close, he seized the dervish and dropped him in.

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**Who acts:** dervish, houses, envious man · **What happens:** do, ask, be, begin, tell, edge · **To what, where:** dervish, long story · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dervish, houses, envious man), 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:pg128:9:55
# text = The dervish did as he was asked without delay, and directly they were alone together the envious man began to tell a long story, edging, as they walked to and fro, always nearer to the well, and when they were quite close, he seized the dervish and dropped him in.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	dervish	dervish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	asked	ask	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
8	without	without	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	delay	delay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
12	directly	directly	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	together	together	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	envious	envious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
27	edging	edge	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	22	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	walked	walk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	fro	fro	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	37	advmod	_	_
37	nearer	near	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	34	amod	_	_
38	to	to	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	well	well	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
43	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	47	mark	_	_
44	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
45	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	_
46	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
47	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
49	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
50	seized	seize	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	dervish	dervish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obj	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
54	dropped	drop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	conj	_	_
55	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	obj	_	_
56	in	in	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | the dervish |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past · passive |  | dervish |  |  |  | without delay | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** | past | houses *= house* |  |  |  |  | alone, directly, together *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **begin** | past | the envious man |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | the envious man *not said here* | a long story |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent story=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **edge** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **walk** | past | houses *= house* |  |  |  |  | to fro *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to fro=Result |
| 8 | **is** | past | houses *= house* |  |  |  |  | close *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **seize** | past | dervish | the dervish |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dervish=Theme |
| 10 | **drop** | past | dervish *not said here* | dervish |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |

<!-- .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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