--- title: If I shall find that my merit, like that of others, excites malignit… — Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth · tree and pragmatics description: If I shall find that my merit, like that of others, excites malignity, or feel myself tottering on the seat of elevation, I may at last retire to academical obscurity, and become, in my lowest state, a professor of Bassora.” Who acts: I, merit. A sentence of «Oriental tales, for the entertainment of --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62868/14/10/) [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/) / [Oriental tales, for the entertainment…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62868/) / [The Story of Gelaleddin of Bassora.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62868/14/) / 10 # Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth, The Story of Gelaleddin of Bassora., sentence 10 If I shall find that my merit, like that of others, excites malignity, or feel myself tottering on the seat of elevation, I may at last retire to academical obscurity, and become, in my lowest state, a professor of Bassora.” **Who acts:** I, merit · **What happens:** find, excite, feel, totter, become · **To what, where:** malignity, myself, seat, lowest state · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth» by Anonymous, The Story of Gelaleddin of Bassora.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, merit), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg62868:14:10 # text = If I shall find that my merit, like that of others, excites malignity, or feel myself tottering on the seat of elevation, I may at last retire to academical obscurity, and become, in my lowest state, a professor of Bassora.” 1 If if SCONJ IN _ 4 mark _ _ 2 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 3 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 find find VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 37 advcl _ _ 5 that that SCONJ IN _ 14 mark _ _ 6 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 7 nmod:poss _ _ 7 merit merit NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 9 like like ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 10 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 7 appos _ _ 11 of of ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 12 others other NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 14 excites excite VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 ccomp _ _ 15 malignity malignity NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 17 or or CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 18 feel feel VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 conj _ _ 19 myself myself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 18 obj _ _ 20 tottering totter VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 18 advcl _ _ 21 on on ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 seat seat NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ _ 24 of of ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 25 elevation elevation NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 27 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 28 may may AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 37 aux _ _ 29 at at ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 30 last last ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ _ 31 retire retire NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obl _ _ 32 to to ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 academical academical ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 amod _ _ 34 obscurity obscurity NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 37 become become VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 39 in in ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 40 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 42 nmod:poss _ _ 41 lowest low ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 42 amod _ _ 42 state state NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 44 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 45 professor professor NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 nmod _ _ 46 of of ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 47 Bassora Bassora PROPN NNP Number=Sing 45 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 42 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 49 ” " PUNCT '' _ 37 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **find** *a condition, not said to happen* | shall | I | | | | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 2 | **excite** | present | my merit | malignity | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus malignity=Experiencer | | 3 | **feel** | infinitive | I *not said here* | myself | | | | | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent myself=Theme | | 4 | **totter** | gerund | I *not said here* | | | the seat of elevation | | | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on seat=Location | | 5 | **become** | may | | my lowest state a professor of Bassora | | | | | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=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:** «Oriental tales, for the entertainment of youth» by Anonymous, Project Gutenberg book 62868 (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 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62868/14/9/) - next →: [sentence 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62868/14/11/) - ↑ back to [The Story of Gelaleddin of Bassora.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62868/14/)