---
title: The Caliph, accustomed though he was to instant obedience, guessed s… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: The Caliph, accustomed though he was to instant obedience, guessed something of what was passing in the young man's mind, and sought to put him at his ease. " Who acts: Caliph, young man. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 34, with its dependency tree and
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 34, sentence 53

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Caliph, accustomed though he was to instant obedience, guessed something of what was passing in the young man's mind, and sought to put him at his ease. "

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Caliph, young man · **What happens:** accustom, be, guess, pass, seek, put · **To what, where:** Caliph, something, mind, ease

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 34. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Caliph, young man), 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:pg128:34:53
# text = The Caliph, accustomed though he was to instant obedience, guessed something of what was passing in the young man's mind, and sought to put him at his ease. "
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Caliph	Caliph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	accustomed	accustom	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
5	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	instant	instant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	obedience	obedience	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
12	guessed	guess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	12	obj	_	_
14	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	17	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	passing	pass	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	acl	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	's	's	PART	POS	_	21	case	_	_
23	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	sought	seek	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
29	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	at	at	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	ease	ease	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
34	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **accustom** | participle |  | the Caliph *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | Caliph |  |  |  |  | to instant obedience | tree rules |
| 3 | **guess** | past | the Caliph | something |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Theme |
| 4 | **pass** | past · progressive |  |  |  | the young man's mind |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in mind=Location |
| 5 | **seek** | past | the Caliph *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **put** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the Caliph *not said here* | Caliph |  | Caliph's ease |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme at ease=Destination |
| 7 | **mind** |  | the young man |  |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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