---
title: I replied that nothing would please me better than to tell them, but… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: I replied that nothing would please me better than to tell them, but that I was starving, and would fain eat something first. Who acts: I, nothing. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 17, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 17, sentence 67

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I replied that nothing would please me better than to tell them, but that I was starving, and would fain eat something first.

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**Who acts:** I, nothing · **What happens:** reply, please, tell, starve, fain, eat · **To what, where:** me, eyes, something · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, nothing), 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:pg128:17:67
# text = I replied that nothing would please me better than to tell them, but that I was starving, and would fain eat something first.
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	_	6	mark	_	_
4	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	6	nsubj	_	_
5	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	please	please	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
7	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	xcomp	_	_
9	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	starving	starve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	fain	fain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
23	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
24	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	23	obj	_	_
25	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **please** | would | nothing | me |  |  |  | good *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus i=Experiencer |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | nothing *not said here* |  | eyes *= eye* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 4 | **starve** | past · progressive | I |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **fain** | would | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **eat** | infinitive | I *not said here* | something |  |  |  | first *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Patient |

<!-- .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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