---
title: As the hunchback was one of the Sultan's private jesters, the chief… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: As the hunchback was one of the Sultan's private jesters, the chief of police resolved to defer sentence of death until he had consulted his master. Who acts: Hunchback. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 19, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/19/85/)

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 19, sentence 85

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As the hunchback was one of the Sultan's private jesters, the chief of police resolved to defer sentence of death until he had consulted his master.

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**Who acts:** Hunchback · **What happens:** be, resolve, defer, consult, sentence · **To what, where:** one, police, sentence, master, death

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 19. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Hunchback), 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:pg128:19:85
# text = As the hunchback was one of the Sultan's private jesters, the chief of police resolved to defer sentence of death until he had consulted his master.
1	As	as	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	hunchback	hunchback	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	private	private	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	jesters	jester	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	police	police	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	_
17	resolved	resolve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	defer	defer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	sentence	sentence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
23	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	consulted	consult	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | one and the chief of police |  |  |  | as the hunchback; of the Sultan's private jesters | tree rules |
| 2 | **resolve** | participle |  | police *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **defer** | to-infinitive |  | sentence of death |  |  |  |  | vn delay-53.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent sentence=Source |
| 4 | **consult** | past · perfect | Hunchback | Hunchback's master |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent master=Theme |
| 5 | **sentence** |  |  | death |  |  |  |  | nom sentence «communication transitive»: of=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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