---
title: "Sire," I said, "I am more astonished than I can express to you at t… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: "Sire," I said, "I am more astonished than I can express to you at the strange custom which exists in your dominions of burying the living with the dead. Who acts: I, strange custom, dominions. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 16, with its dependency tr
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 16, sentence 39

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Sire," I said, "I am more astonished than I can express to you at the strange custom which exists in your dominions of burying the living with the dead.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, strange custom, dominions · **What happens:** say, be, express, exist, bury · **To what, where:** you, strange custom, dominions, living · **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, strange custom, dominions), 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:pg128:16:39
# text = "Sire," I said, "I am more astonished than I can express to you at the strange custom which exists in your dominions of burying the living with the dead.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Sire	sire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	ccomp	_	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	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	12	advmod	_	_
12	astonished	astonished	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	ccomp	_	_
13	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	express	express	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	_
19	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
23	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	24	nsubj	_	_
24	exists	exist	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	acl:relcl	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	dominions	dominion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	_
28	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
29	burying	bury	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	27	acl	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	living	living	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	with	with	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | I |  |  |  |  | astonished *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **express** *in a quote* | can | I |  | you | the strange custom |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to you=Recipient |
| 4 | **exist** *in a quote* | present | the strange custom |  |  | your dominions |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in dominion=Location |
| 5 | **bury** *in a quote* | gerund | your dominions *not said here* | the living |  |  |  | with the dead | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent living=Theme |

<!-- .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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