--- title: In order to explain this strange request," continued the officers, "… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: 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. A sentence of «Th --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/13/) [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/) / [The Arabian Nights Entertainments](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/) / [Opening, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/) / 13 # 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 {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg128:10:13 # text = 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. 1 In in SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 4 mark _ _ 2 order order NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 fixed _ _ 3 to to PART TO _ 4 mark _ _ 4 explain explain VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 advcl _ _ 5 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 7 det _ _ 6 strange strange ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 request request NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 9 " " PUNCT '' _ 4 punct _ _ 10 continued continue VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 officers officer NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 14 " " PUNCT `` _ 17 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 expl _ _ 16 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 17 cop _ _ 17 necessary necessary ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 conj _ _ 18 that that SCONJ IN _ 21 mark _ _ 19 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 20 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 21 aux _ _ 21 know know VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 17 csubj _ _ 22 that that SCONJ IN _ 32 mark _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 24 grand grand ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 25 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 24 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 26 vizir vizir NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 nsubj:pass _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 28 lately lately ADV RB _ 29 advmod _ _ 29 dead dead ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 31 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 aux:pass _ _ 32 celebrated celebrate VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 21 ccomp _ _ 33 for for ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 34 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 36 nmod:poss _ _ 35 beautiful beautiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 36 amod _ _ 36 handwriting handwriting NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 42 cc _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 Sultan Sultan PROPN NNP Number=Sing 42 nsubj _ _ 41 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 42 cop _ _ 42 anxious anxious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 parataxis _ _ 43 to to PART TO _ 44 mark _ _ 44 find find VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 42 xcomp _ _ 45 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 46 similar similar ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 amod _ _ 47 talent talent NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 obj _ _ 48 in in ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 49 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 50 nmod:poss _ _ 50 successor successor NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 10 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#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. - ← previous: [sentence 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/12/) - next →: [sentence 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/14/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/)