The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 10, sentence 13
In order to explain this strange request," continued the officers, "it is necessary that you should know that the grand-vizir, lately dead, was celebrated for his beautiful handwriting, and the Sultan is anxious to find a similar talent in his successor.
Who acts: you, Sultan, use · What happens: explain, continue, be, know, celebrate, find · To what, where: strange request, officers, grand vizir, similar talent, successor · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, Sultan, use), 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
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | In | in | SCONJ | ExtPos=SCONJ | 4 explain | mark |
| 2 | order | order | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 In | fixed |
| 3 | to | to | PART | _ | 4 explain | mark |
| 4 | explain | explain | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 continued | advcl |
| 5 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 7 request | det |
| 6 | strange | strange | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 request | amod |
| 7 | request | request | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 explain | obj |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 explain | punct |
| 9 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 explain | punct |
| 10 | continued | continue | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 officers | det |
| 12 | officers | officer | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 continued | obj |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 necessary | punct |
| 14 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 17 necessary | punct |
| 15 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 necessary | expl |
| 16 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 17 necessary | cop |
| 17 | necessary | necessary | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 continued | conj |
| 18 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 21 know | mark |
| 19 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 21 know | nsubj |
| 20 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 21 know | aux |
| 21 | know | know | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 17 necessary | csubj |
| 22 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 32 celebrated | mark |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 vizir | det |
| 24 | grand | grand | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 vizir | amod |
| 25 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 24 grand | punct |
| 26 | vizir | vizir | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 celebrated | nsubj:pass |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 dead | punct |
| 28 | lately | lately | ADV | _ | 29 dead | advmod |
| 29 | dead | dead | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 vizir | amod |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 vizir | punct |
| 31 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 32 celebrated | aux:pass |
| 32 | celebrated | celebrate | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 21 know | ccomp |
| 33 | for | for | ADP | _ | 36 handwriting | case |
| 34 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 36 handwriting | nmod:poss |
| 35 | beautiful | beautiful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 36 handwriting | amod |
| 36 | handwriting | handwriting | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 celebrated | obl |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 anxious | punct |
| 38 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 42 anxious | cc |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 Sultan | det |
| 40 | Sultan | Sultan | PROPN | Number=Sing | 42 anxious | nsubj |
| 41 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 42 anxious | cop |
| 42 | anxious | anxious | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 continued | parataxis |
| 43 | to | to | PART | _ | 44 find | mark |
| 44 | find | find | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 42 anxious | xcomp |
| 45 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 47 talent | det |
| 46 | similar | similar | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 47 talent | amod |
| 47 | talent | talent | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 find | obj |
| 48 | in | in | ADP | _ | 50 successor | case |
| 49 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 50 successor | nmod:poss |
| 50 | successor | successor | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 talent | nmod |
| 51 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 10 continued | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | explain speech: assert | to-infinitive | this strange request | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent request=Topic | |||||
| 2 | continue in a quote | past | the officers | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | is | present | necessary property | tree rules | |||||
| 4 | know | should | you | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 5 | celebrate | past · passive | the grand vizir | for use's beautiful handwriting | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Theme for handwriting=Attribute | ||||
| 6 | is | present | the Sultan | anxious property | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | find | to-infinitive | the Sultan not said here | a similar talent | use's successor | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent talent=Topic | |||
| 8 | handwrite | use | nom handwriting «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/13/