---
title: Sidi-Nouman," he said, "do not think of me as the Caliph, but merely… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Sidi-Nouman," he said, "do not think of me as the Caliph, but merely as a friend who would like to hear your story. Who acts: Sidi, friend. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 34, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 34, sentence 54

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sidi-Nouman," he said, "do not think of me as the Caliph, but merely as a friend who would like to hear your story.

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**Who acts:** Sidi, friend · **What happens:** say, not think, like, hear · **To what, where:** story · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Sidi, friend), 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:pg128:34:54
# text = Sidi-Nouman," he said, "do not think of me as the Caliph, but merely as a friend who would like to hear your story.
1	Sidi	Sidi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	Nouman	Nouman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	_
15	as	as	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	Caliph	Caliph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	merely	merely	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
21	as	as	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
24	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
25	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	acl:relcl	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
29	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | Sidi |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **think** *speech: other* | infinitive · do-support |  |  |  |  |  | of me; as the Caliph; as a friend | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **like** | would | a friend |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **hear** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a friend *not said here* | your story |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer story=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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