---
title: I one day presumed to ask his majesty why he did not use them, to wh… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: I one day presumed to ask his majesty why he did not use them, to which he replied, "You speak to me of things of which I have never before heard!" Who acts: I, king, You. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 16, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 16, sentence 12

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I one day presumed to ask his majesty why he did not use them, to which he replied, "You speak to me of things of which I have never before heard!"

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, king, You · **What happens:** presume, ask, not use, reply, speak, hear · **To what, where:** majesty, horses, king · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, king, You), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg128:16:12
# text = I one day presumed to ask his majesty why he did not use them, to which he replied, "You speak to me of things of which I have never before heard!"
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	presumed	presume	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	majesty	majesty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	19	obl	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	speak	speak	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	34	obl	_	_
30	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
31	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
32	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	33	advmod	_	_
33	before	before	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	27	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **presume** | participle | I |  |  |  | day |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | king's majesty |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent majesty=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **use** | past · do-support | king | horses *= horse* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 4 | **reply** *speech: express* | past | king |  |  |  |  |  | vn respond-113 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to which=Theme |
| 5 | **speak** *speech: other* *in a quote* | present | You |  | king |  |  | of things | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to i=Co-Agent |
| 6 | **hear** *in a quote* | present · perfect | king |  |  |  |  | of things; before *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer of which=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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