---
title: The Caliph, much surprised at this request, replied gently: "My good… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: The Caliph, much surprised at this request, replied gently: "My good man, that which you ask is impossible. Who acts: you, good man. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 33, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 33, sentence 5

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The Caliph, much surprised at this request, replied gently: "My good man, that which you ask is impossible.

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**Who acts:** you, good man · **What happens:** reply, ask, be · **To what, where:** good man · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (you, good man), 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:pg128:33:5
# text = The Caliph, much surprised at this request, replied gently: "My good man, that which you ask is impossible.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Caliph	Caliph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	much	much	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	surprised	surprised	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
8	request	request	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	replied	reply	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	parataxis	_	_
11	gently	gently	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
13	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
15	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
18	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	nsubj	_	_
19	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	obj	_	_
20	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	ask	ask	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	_
22	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | participle |  |  |  |  |  | gently *property* | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent which=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | My good man | My good man *not said here* |  |  |  | impossible *property* | 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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