---
title: I need hardly say that I took special care not to inform him that I… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: I need hardly say that I took special care not to inform him that I was the Agib whom he dreaded. Who acts: I, Agib. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 11, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 11, sentence 73

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I need hardly say that I took special care not to inform him that I was the Agib whom he dreaded.

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**Who acts:** I, Agib · **What happens:** need, say, take, not inform, be, dread · **To what, where:** special care, Agib · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, Agib), 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:pg128:11:73
# text = I need hardly say that I took special care not to inform him that I was the Agib whom he dreaded.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
8	special	special	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	care	care	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	inform	inform	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	Agib	Agib	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
19	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	21	obj	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	dreaded	dread	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **take** | past | I | special care |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent care=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **inform** *speech: other* | to-infinitive |  |  | Agib |  |  |  | vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 5 | **is a** | past | I | the Agib |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **dread** | past | Agib | the Agib |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer whom=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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