--- title: The officials began to laugh when they heard the Sultan's command, b… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: The officials began to laugh when they heard the Sultan's command, but as soon as they could speak they said, "Deign, your highness, to excuse our mirth, but those lines were not written by a man but by a monkey." Who acts: officials, Deign, man, Sultan. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainme --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/25/) [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/) / 25 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 10, sentence 25 The officials began to laugh when they heard the Sultan's command, but as soon as they could speak they said, "Deign, your highness, to excuse our mirth, but those lines were not written by a man but by a monkey." **Who acts:** officials, Deign, man, Sultan · **What happens:** begin, laugh, hear, speak, say, excuse · **To what, where:** command, mirth, lines · **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 (officials, Deign, man, Sultan), 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:pg128:10:25 # text = The officials began to laugh when they heard the Sultan's command, but as soon as they could speak they said, "Deign, your highness, to excuse our mirth, but those lines were not written by a man but by a monkey." 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 officials official NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 nsubj _ _ 3 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 to to PART TO _ 5 mark _ _ 5 laugh laugh VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 xcomp _ _ 6 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 8 advmod _ _ 7 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 8 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 advcl _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 Sultan Sultan PROPN NNP Number=Sing 12 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 11 's 's PART POS _ 10 case _ _ 12 command command NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 14 but but CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 15 as as ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ _ 16 soon soon ADV RB Degree=Pos 22 advmod _ _ 17 as as SCONJ IN _ 20 mark _ _ 18 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 19 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 20 aux _ _ 20 speak speak VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 advcl _ _ 21 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 22 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 24 " " PUNCT `` _ 25 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 25 Deign Deign PROPN NNP Number=Sing 31 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 27 your your PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 28 nmod:poss _ _ 28 highness highness NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 30 to to PART TO _ 31 mark _ _ 31 excuse excuse VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 22 ccomp _ _ 32 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 33 nmod:poss _ _ 33 mirth mirth NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 35 but but CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 36 those that DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 37 det _ _ 37 lines line NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 nsubj:pass _ _ 38 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 40 aux:pass _ _ 39 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 40 advmod _ _ 40 written write VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 parataxis _ _ 41 by by ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ _ 44 but but CCONJ CC _ 47 cc _ _ 45 by by ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 46 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 47 monkey monkey NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 40 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 49 " " PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **begin** | past | the officials | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 2 | **laugh** | to-infinitive | the officials *not said here* | | | | | | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **hear** | past | officials *= official* | the Sultan's command | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer command=Stimulus | | 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | could | officials *= official* | | | | | | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | officials *= official* | | | | | soon *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 6 | **excuse** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Deign | our mirth | | | | | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mirth=Theme | | 7 | **not** **write** *in a quote* | past · passive | a man but a monkey | that lines | | | | | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme | | 8 | **command** | | the Sultan | | | | | | nom command «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 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/24/) - next →: [sentence 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/26/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/)