The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 9, sentence 53
The excuse he gave for his appearance was that he had come to consult the chief of the dervishes on a private matter of great importance. "
Who acts: excuse, appearance, great importance · What happens: give, come, consult, matter · To what, where: chief, private matter
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 (excuse, appearance, great importance), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 excuse | det |
| 2 | excuse | excuse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 gave | nsubj |
| 3 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 gave | nsubj |
| 4 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | for | for | SCONJ | _ | 12 come | mark |
| 6 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 7 appearance | nmod:poss |
| 7 | appearance | appearance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 come | nsubj |
| 8 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 come | aux |
| 9 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 12 come | mark |
| 10 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 come | nsubj |
| 11 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 come | aux |
| 12 | come | come | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 4 gave | ccomp |
| 13 | to | to | PART | _ | 14 consult | mark |
| 14 | consult | consult | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 come | xcomp |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 chief | det |
| 16 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 consult | obj |
| 17 | of | of | ADP | _ | 19 dervishes | case |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 dervishes | det |
| 19 | dervishes | dervish | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 chief | nmod |
| 20 | on | on | ADP | _ | 23 matter | case |
| 21 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 23 matter | det |
| 22 | private | private | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 23 matter | amod |
| 23 | matter | matter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 consult | obl |
| 24 | of | of | ADP | _ | 26 importance | case |
| 25 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 importance | amod |
| 26 | importance | importance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 matter | nmod |
| 27 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 gave | punct |
| 28 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 gave | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | give | past | the excuse | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | come | past · perfect | excuse's appearance | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | consult | to-infinitive | excuse's appearance not said here | the chief of the dervishes | a private matter of great importance | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chief=Theme | |||
| 4 | matter | great importance | nom matter «cognition intransitive»: of=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/pg128/9/53/