The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 16, sentence 12
I one day presumed to ask his majesty why he did not use them, to which he replied, "You speak to me of things of which I have never before heard!"
Who acts: I, king, You · What happens: presume, ask, not use, reply, speak, hear · To what, where: majesty, horses, king · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, king, You), 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 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 4 presumed | nsubj |
| 2 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 3 day | nummod |
| 3 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 presumed | obl:unmarked |
| 4 | presumed | presume | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | PART | _ | 6 ask | mark |
| 6 | ask | ask | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 presumed | advcl |
| 7 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 8 majesty | nmod:poss |
| 8 | majesty | majesty | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 ask | obj |
| 9 | why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 13 use | advmod |
| 10 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 use | nsubj |
| 11 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 use | aux |
| 12 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 13 use | advmod |
| 13 | use | use | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 6 ask | ccomp |
| 14 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 use | obj |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 replied | punct |
| 16 | to | to | ADP | _ | 17 which | case |
| 17 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 19 replied | obl |
| 18 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 replied | nsubj |
| 19 | replied | reply | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 presumed | parataxis |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 speak | punct |
| 21 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 23 speak | punct |
| 22 | You | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 23 speak | nsubj |
| 23 | speak | speak | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 19 replied | conj |
| 24 | to | to | ADP | _ | 25 me | case |
| 25 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 23 speak | obl |
| 26 | of | of | ADP | _ | 27 things | case |
| 27 | things | thing | NOUN | Number=Plur | 23 speak | obl |
| 28 | of | of | ADP | _ | 29 which | case |
| 29 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 34 heard | obl |
| 30 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 34 heard | nsubj |
| 31 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 34 heard | aux |
| 32 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 33 before | advmod |
| 33 | before | before | ADV | _ | 34 heard | advmod |
| 34 | heard | hear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 27 things | acl:relcl |
| 35 | ! | ! | PUNCT | _ | 4 presumed | punct |
| 36 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 presumed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | presume | participle | I | day | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | ask speech: ask | to-infinitive | I not said here | king's majesty | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent majesty=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 3 | not use | past · do-support | king | horses = horse | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient | ||||
| 4 | reply speech: express | past | king | vn respond-113 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to which=Theme | |||||
| 5 | speak speech: other in a quote | present | You | king | of things | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to i=Co-Agent | |||
| 6 | hear in a quote | present · perfect | king | of things; before property | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer of which=Stimulus |
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/pg128/16/12/