---
title: I am by no means perfect, but I am not naturally cruel, neither do I… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: I am by no means perfect, but I am not naturally cruel, neither do I take pleasure in breaking the law. Who acts: I. 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 59

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I am by no means perfect, but I am not naturally cruel, neither do I take pleasure in breaking the law.

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** be, not be, take, break · **To what, where:** pleasure, law

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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 (I), 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:pg128:34:59
# text = I am by no means perfect, but I am not naturally cruel, neither do I take pleasure in breaking the law.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	by	by	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	obl	_	_
5	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	perfect	perfect	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
10	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
12	naturally	naturally	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	cruel	cruel	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	18	cc:preconj	_	_
16	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	parataxis	_	_
19	pleasure	pleasure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
20	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
21	breaking	break	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	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 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | by no; mean, perfect *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | cruel, naturally *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **take** | present · do-support | I | pleasure |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pleasure=Theme |
| 4 | **break** | gerund | I *not said here* | the law |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer law=Patient |

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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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