---
title: I must confess," he exclaimed, "that I am much more interested in th… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: I must confess," he exclaimed, "that I am much more interested in the stories of the barber and his brothers, and of the lame man, than in that of my own jester. Who acts: I, Sultan, that. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 22, with its dependency tree an
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 22, sentence 41

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I must confess," he exclaimed, "that I am much more interested in the stories of the barber and his brothers, and of the lame man, than in that of my own jester.

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**Who acts:** I, Sultan, that · **What happens:** confess, exclaim, be · **To what, where:** stories · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 22. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, Sultan, that), 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:pg128:22:41
# text = I must confess," he exclaimed, "that I am much more interested in the stories of the barber and his brothers, and of the lame man, than in that of my own jester.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	confess	confess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	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	exclaimed	exclaim	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
12	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	much	much	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	15	advmod	_	_
15	interested	interested	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	barber	barber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	lame	lame	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	than	than	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	30	appos	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
37	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	jester	jester	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **confess** | must | I |  |  |  |  | of the lame man | vn confess-37.10 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **exclaim** *speech: express* *in a quote* | past | Sultan |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | present | that |  |  | the stories of the barber and Sultan's brothers |  | interested *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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