---
title: I felt provoked by her obstinacy, but to excuse her to myself as far… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: I felt provoked by her obstinacy, but to excuse her to myself as far as I could, I suggested that perhaps she had never been used to eat in the company of men, and that her family might have taught her that she ought to behave prudently and discreetly in the presence of her husband. Who acts: I, Ami
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 34, sentence 79

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I felt provoked by her obstinacy, but to excuse her to myself as far as I could, I suggested that perhaps she had never been used to eat in the company of men, and that her family might have taught her that she ought to behave prudently and discreetly in the presence of her husband.

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**Who acts:** I, Amina · **What happens:** feel, provoke, excuse, suggest, not use, eat · **To what, where:** Amina, myself, company, family, presence · **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 (I, Amina), 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:pg128:34:79
# text = I felt provoked by her obstinacy, but to excuse her to myself as far as I could, I suggested that perhaps she had never been used to eat in the company of men, and that her family might have taught her that she ought to behave prudently and discreetly in the presence of her husband.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	provoked	provoke	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	xcomp	_	_
4	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	obstinacy	obstinacy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	excuse	excuse	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
11	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	10	obl	_	_
14	as	as	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	10	advmod	_	_
16	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	suggested	suggest	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
23	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
24	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
26	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
27	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	28	aux:pass	_	_
28	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	ccomp	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	company	company	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
38	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
39	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj:pass	_	_
41	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
42	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	aux	_	_
43	taught	teach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
44	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	obj	_	_
45	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
46	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
47	ought	ought	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
48	to	to	PART	TO	_	49	mark	_	_
49	behave	behave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	advcl	_	_
50	prudently	prudently	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	discreetly	discreetly	ADV	RB	_	50	conj	_	_
53	in	in	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	presence	presence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
56	of	of	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
58	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feel** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **provoke** | participle | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by Amina's obstinacy | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **excuse** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | Amina | myself |  |  | far *property* | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |
| 4 | **suggest** *speech: suggest* | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **not** **use** | past · perfect · passive |  | Amina |  |  |  | perhaps *property* | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Theme clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **eat** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | the company of men |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **teach** *speech: other* | might · perfect · passive |  | Amina's family | Amina |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient she=Topic |
| 8 | **behave** | ought | Amina |  |  | the presence of Amina's husband |  | prudently *property* | vn masquerade-29.6-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=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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