---
title: In truth it was a talisman which the Queen of China had given her da… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: In truth it was a talisman which the Queen of China had given her daughter, telling her it would ensure her happiness as long as she carried it about her. Who acts: cornelian, Queen. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 25, with its dependency tree and the 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/25/81/)

<!-- 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 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/25/) / 81

# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 25, sentence 81

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In truth it was a talisman which the Queen of China had given her daughter, telling her it would ensure her happiness as long as she carried it about her.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** cornelian, Queen · **What happens:** be, give, tell, ensure, carry · **To what, where:** talisman, truth, daughter, Queen, happiness, cornelian · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 25. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (cornelian, Queen), 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:pg128:25:81
# text = In truth it was a talisman which the Queen of China had given her daughter, telling her it would ensure her happiness as long as she carried it about her.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	talisman	talisman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	obj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	China	China	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
14	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
18	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	iobj	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	ensure	ensure	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
22	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	happiness	happiness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	as	as	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	21	advmod	_	_
26	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
27	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	about	about	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | cornelian | a talisman |  | truth |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **give** | past · perfect | the Queen of China | a talisman | Queen's daughter |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent daughter=Recipient which=Theme |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund | the Queen of China *not said here* |  | Queen |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **ensure** *not said to happen* | would | cornelian | Queen's happiness |  |  |  | long *property* | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition happiness=Theme |
| 5 | **carry** | past | Queen | cornelian |  |  |  | about China | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

<!-- .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 80](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/25/80/)
- next →: [sentence 82](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/25/82/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/25/)