---
title: Needless to say that one of the first things his mother told him was… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Needless to say that one of the first things his mother told him was the sad condition of the princess, his foster-sister. Who acts: mother, one. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 24, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/24/69/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Arabian Nights Entertainments](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/) / [Opening, part 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/24/) / 69

# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 24, sentence 69

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Needless to say that one of the first things his mother told him was the sad condition of the princess, his foster-sister.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** mother, one · **What happens:** say, tell, be · **To what, where:** first things, son, sad condition · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 24. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mother, one), 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:pg128:24:69
# text = Needless to say that one of the first things his mother told him was the sad condition of the princess, his foster-sister.
1	Needless	needless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	to	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
3	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	csubj	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	nsubj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	9	amod	_	_
9	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	iobj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	sad	sad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	condition	condition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
23	foster	foster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | son's mother | the first things *not said here* | son |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 3 | **is a** | past | one of the first things | the sad condition and son's foster sister |  |  |  | of the princess | 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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 68](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/24/68/)
- next →: [sentence 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/24/70/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/24/)