---
title: At length he said: "Sire, I beg you to pardon me if I am unable to r… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: At length he said: "Sire, I beg you to pardon me if I am unable to reply as you might wish. Who acts: prince, you. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 22, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 22, sentence 81

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At length he said: "Sire, I beg you to pardon me if I am unable to reply as you might wish.

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**Who acts:** prince, you · **What happens:** say, beg, pardon, be, reply, wish · **To what, where:** length, you, prince · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (prince, 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:pg128:22:81
# text = At length he said: "Sire, I beg you to pardon me if I am unable to reply as you might wish.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Sire	sire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	beg	beg	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	pardon	pardon	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
14	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
18	unable	unable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	advcl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	reply	reply	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	wish	wish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | prince |  |  | length |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **beg** *speech: request* *in a quote* | present | prince |  | you |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent you=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **pardon** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | prince *not said here* | prince |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 4 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | prince |  |  |  |  | unable *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **reply** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | to-infinitive | prince *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **wish** *in a quote* | might | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |

<!-- .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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