---
title: They greeted one another, and then the old man said to him, "May I a… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: They greeted one another, and then the old man said to him, "May I ask, brother, what brought you to this desert place, where there are so many evil genii about? Who acts: children, old man, brother. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 2, with its dependen
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 2, sentence 55

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They greeted one another, and then the old man said to him, "May I ask, brother, what brought you to this desert place, where there are so many evil genii about?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** children, old man, brother · **What happens:** greet, say, ask, bring · **To what, where:** one, merchant, brother, desert place · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (children, old man, brother), 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:pg128:2:55
# text = They greeted one another, and then the old man said to him, "May I ask, brother, what brought you to this desert place, where there are so many evil genii about?
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	greeted	greet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	obj	_	_
4	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
7	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	May	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	23	nsubj	_	_
23	brought	bring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	acl:relcl	_	_
24	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	28	det	_	_
27	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	compound	_	_
28	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	32	advmod	_	_
31	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	32	expl	_	_
32	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	acl:relcl	_	_
33	so	so	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
35	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	genii	genii	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nsubj	_	_
37	about	about	ADP	IN	_	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **greet** *speech: greet* | past | children *= child* | one |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | the old man |  | merchant |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | may | the old man *= man* |  | brother |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent brother=Recipient |
| 4 | **bring** *in a quote* | past | brother | merchant |  | this desert place |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent you=Theme to place=Destination |

<!-- .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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