---
title: As will be imagined, these words took the Sultan by surprise, and he… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: As will be imagined, these words took the Sultan by surprise, and he looked at me to see how I should take the statement of the princess. Who acts: words, Sultan, I. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 10, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 10, sentence 55

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As will be imagined, these words took the Sultan by surprise, and he looked at me to see how I should take the statement of the princess.

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**Who acts:** words, Sultan, I · **What happens:** imagine, take, look, see, state · **To what, where:** Sultan, statement, princess · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (words, Sultan, I), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg128:10:55
# text = As will be imagined, these words took the Sultan by surprise, and he looked at me to see how I should take the statement of the princess.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	imagined	imagine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	advcl	_	_
21	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	24	advmod	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	ccomp	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	statement	statement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **imagine** | future · passive | this words *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF» |
| 2 | **take** | past | this words |  | the Sultan |  |  | by surprise | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument sultan=Destination |
| 3 | **look** | past | Sultan |  |  |  |  | at me | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at i=Theme |
| 4 | **see** | to-infinitive | Sultan *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **take** | should | I | the statement of the princess |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent statement=Theme |
| 6 | **state** |  |  | the princess |  |  |  |  | nom statement «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .note -->
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.

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**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.

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