---
title: I replied that my story was somewhat long, but that if they would ta… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: I replied that my story was somewhat long, but that if they would take the trouble to sit down, I should be happy to tell it them. Who acts: I, story, miles. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 12, sentence 10

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I replied that my story was somewhat long, but that if they would take the trouble to sit down, I should be happy to tell it them.

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**Who acts:** I, story, miles · **What happens:** reply, be, take, sit down, tell · **To what, where:** trouble, miles · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, story, miles), 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:pg128:12:10
# text = I replied that my story was somewhat long, but that if they would take the trouble to sit down, I should be happy to tell it them.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
4	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	somewhat	somewhat	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
20	down	down	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
23	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
24	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	cop	_	_
25	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	conj	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | my story |  |  |  |  | long, somewhat *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **take** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | miles *= mile* | the trouble |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trouble=Theme |
| 4 | **sit down** | to-infinitive | miles *= mile* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** | should | I |  |  |  |  | happy *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | trouble | miles *= mile* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient it=Topic |

<!-- .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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