---
title: "It is an unheard-of thing," said Noureddin, "that a fisherman shoul… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: "It is an unheard-of thing," said Noureddin, "that a fisherman should be in correspondence with a king." Who acts: letter, Noureddin, that. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 30, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 30, sentence 29

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"It is an unheard-of thing," said Noureddin, "that a fisherman should be in correspondence with a king."

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**Who acts:** letter, Noureddin, that · **What happens:** be, say · **To what, where:** correspondence · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 30. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (letter, Noureddin, that), 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:pg128:30:29
# text = "It is an unheard-of thing," said Noureddin, "that a fisherman should be in correspondence with a king."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
5	unheard	unheard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	Noureddin	Noureddin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	fisherman	fisherman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
18	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
19	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	cop	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	correspondence	correspondence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	ccomp	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | letter |  |  |  |  | of a unheard thing | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Noureddin |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | should | that |  |  | correspondence |  | with a king | tree rules |

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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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