---
title: One day, however, when I was entertaining a number of my friends, I… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: One day, however, when I was entertaining a number of my friends, I was told that an officer of the Caliph wished to speak to me, and when he was admitted he bade me follow him into the presence of Haroun al Raschid, which I accordingly did. Who acts: I, officer, Sindbad. A sentence of «The Arabian 
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 18, sentence 43

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One day, however, when I was entertaining a number of my friends, I was told that an officer of the Caliph wished to speak to me, and when he was admitted he bade me follow him into the presence of Haroun al Raschid, which I accordingly did.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, officer, Sindbad · **What happens:** entertain, tell, wish, speak, admit, bade · **To what, where:** number, I, me, Sindbad, presence, Haroun al · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, officer, Sindbad), 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:pg128:18:43
# text = One day, however, when I was entertaining a number of my friends, I was told that an officer of the Caliph wished to speak to me, and when he was admitted he bade me follow him into the presence of Haroun al Raschid, which I accordingly did.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	however	however	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	entertaining	entertain	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
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:pass	_	_
18	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
20	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	officer	officer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	Caliph	Caliph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
25	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	ccomp	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
32	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	35	advmod	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux:pass	_	_
35	admitted	admit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	parataxis	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	bade	bade	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	ccomp	_	_
38	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	_
39	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	xcomp	_	_
40	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	_
41	into	into	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	presence	presence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	Haroun	Haroun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	46	compound	_	_
46	al	Al	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	43	nmod	_	_
47	Raschid	Raschid	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	46	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
49	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	52	obj	_	_
50	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
51	accordingly	accordingly	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	_
52	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **entertain** | past · progressive | I | a number of my friends |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus number=Experiencer |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · passive |  | I |  |  |  | however *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **wish** | past | a officer of the Caliph |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a officer of the Caliph *not said here* |  | me |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to i=Co-Agent |
| 5 | **admit** *speech: other* | past · passive |  | Sindbad |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **bade** | past | Sindbad | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **follow** | infinitive | Sindbad *not said here* | Sindbad |  | the presence of Haroun al |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent he=Theme into presence=Trajectory |
| 8 | **do** | past | I | Haroun al |  |  |  | accordingly *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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