---
title: "Ladies," I replied, "what is the meaning of these strange words--I… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: "Ladies," I replied, "what is the meaning of these strange words--I pray you to tell me?" Who acts: Ladies. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 12, sentence 58

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"Ladies," I replied, "what is the meaning of these strange words--I pray you to tell me?"

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**Who acts:** Ladies · **What happens:** reply, be, pray, tell · **To what, where:** meaning, you, Ladies · **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 (Ladies), 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:pg128:12:58
# text = "Ladies," I replied, "what is the meaning of these strange words--I pray you to tell me?"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Ladies	lady	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	12	nsubj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	16	det	_	_
15	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	pray	pray	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
20	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	tell	tell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
23	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: ask* | past | Ladies |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | the meaning |  |  |  | of this strange words | tree rules |
| 3 | **pray** *in a quote* | present | Ladies *= lady* | you |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Ladies *= lady* *not said here* |  | Ladies *= lady* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |

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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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