---
title: When they had explained to the official the cause of complaint, he a… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: When they had explained to the official the cause of complaint, he asked Alnaschar where he had obtained all the furniture that he had taken to his house the day before. Who acts: brother, Alnaschar. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 21, with its depende
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 21, sentence 75

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When they had explained to the official the cause of complaint, he asked Alnaschar where he had obtained all the furniture that he had taken to his house the day before.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** brother, Alnaschar · **What happens:** explain, ask, obtain, take, cause · **To what, where:** official, Alnaschar, furniture, complaint · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brother, Alnaschar), 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:pg128:21:75
# text = When they had explained to the official the cause of complaint, he asked Alnaschar where he had obtained all the furniture that he had taken to his house the day before.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	explained	explain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	official	official	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	complaint	complaint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	Alnaschar	Alnaschar	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	iobj	_	_
16	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	19	advmod	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	obtained	obtain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	ccomp	_	_
20	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	22	det:predet	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	furniture	furniture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
23	that	that	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	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl:unmarked	_	_
32	before	before	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **explain** *speech: assert* | past · perfect | brother |  | the official and the cause of complaint |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V PP.recipient how S»: agent=Agent to official=Recipient |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Alnaschar |  | Alnaschar |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent alnaschar=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **obtain** | past · perfect | Alnaschar | all furniture |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent furniture=Theme |
| 4 | **take** | past · perfect | Alnaschar |  |  |  | day | to Alnaschar's house *result*; before *property* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to house=Result |
| 5 | **cause** |  |  | complaint |  |  |  |  | nom cause «event 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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