---
title: These and similar conversations proved to the Sultan how useless it… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: These and similar conversations proved to the Sultan how useless it was to argue with his son, and the year elapsed without bringing any change in the prince's ideas. Who acts: similar conversations, Sultan. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 23, with its
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 23, sentence 3

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These and similar conversations proved to the Sultan how useless it was to argue with his son, and the year elapsed without bringing any change in the prince's ideas.

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**Who acts:** similar conversations, Sultan · **What happens:** prove, be, argue, elapse, bring · **To what, where:** change, ideas

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 23. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (similar conversations, Sultan), 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:pg128:23:3
# text = These and similar conversations proved to the Sultan how useless it was to argue with his son, and the year elapsed without bringing any change in the prince's ideas.
1	These	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	similar	similar	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	conversations	conversation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	proved	prove	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
10	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	ccomp	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	argue	argue	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl:unmarked	_	_
22	elapsed	elapse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
23	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
24	bringing	bring	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
25	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	26	det	_	_
26	change	change	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	's	's	PART	POS	_	29	case	_	_
31	ideas	idea	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prove** | past | this similar conversations |  |  |  |  | to the Sultan | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to sultan=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | past | Sultan |  |  |  |  | useless *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **argue** *speech: disagree* | to-infinitive | Sultan *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with race's son | vn chit\_chat-37.6-1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with son=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **elapse** | participle | this similar conversations *not said here* |  |  |  | year |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **bring** | gerund | this similar conversations *not said here* | any change |  | the prince's ideas |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent change=Theme |

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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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