---
title: The Caliph, astonished at this proceeding, inquired of a passer-by w… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: The Caliph, astonished at this proceeding, inquired of a passer-by what it all meant, but no one could tell him anything, except that every day at the same hour the same thing took place. Who acts: it, one, same thing. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 3
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 33, sentence 17

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Caliph, astonished at this proceeding, inquired of a passer-by what it all meant, but no one could tell him anything, except that every day at the same hour the same thing took place.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** it, one, same thing · **What happens:** astonish, inquire, mean, tell, take · **To what, where:** Caliph, proceeding, anything, place · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 33. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (it, one, same thing), 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:pg128:33:17
# text = The Caliph, astonished at this proceeding, inquired of a passer-by what it all meant, but no one could tell him anything, except that every day at the same hour the same thing took place.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Caliph	Caliph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	astonished	astonish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	proceeding	proceeding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	inquired	inquire	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	passer	passer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	12	appos	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	all	all	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	meant	mean	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
21	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	22	det	_	_
22	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
23	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	ccomp	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	iobj	_	_
26	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	except	except	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	31	det	_	_
30	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	31	det	_	_
31	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl:unmarked	_	_
32	at	at	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	hour	hour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
39	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	acl:relcl	_	_
40	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **astonish** | participle |  | the Caliph *not said here* |  | this proceeding |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **inquire** *speech: other* | participle |  | the Caliph *not said here* |  |  |  | of a passer | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V PP.recipient how S»: agent=Agent of passer=Recipient |
| 3 | **mean** | past | it |  |  |  |  | all *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | could | no one | anything | Caliph |  | day |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient anything=Topic |
| 5 | **take** | past | the same thing | place |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent place=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.

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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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