---
title: Is it possible," he cried, "that while I am in Bagdad, a man like yo… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Is it possible," he cried, "that while I am in Bagdad, a man like you should be starving? Who acts: astonishment, lord, that, you. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 21, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 21, sentence 99

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Is it possible," he cried, "that while I am in Bagdad, a man like you should be starving?

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**Who acts:** astonishment, lord, that, you · **What happens:** be, cry, starve · **To what, where:** Bagdad, man · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (astonishment, lord, that, you), 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:pg128:21:99
# text = Is it possible," he cried, "that while I am in Bagdad, a man like you should be starving?
1	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
11	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	Bagdad	Bagdad	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	appos	_	_
19	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	aux	_	_
23	starving	starve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | astonishment |  |  |  |  | possible *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **cry** *speech: express* *in a quote* | past | lord |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | present | that |  |  | Bagdad |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **starve** | should · progressive | you | a man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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