---
title: The only matter he could not settle satisfactorily was the safe cust… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: The only matter he could not settle satisfactorily was the safe custody of a thousand pieces of gold which he wished to leave behind him. Who acts: he, only matter, safe custody. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 36, with its dependency tree and the prag
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 36, sentence 3

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The only matter he could not settle satisfactorily was the safe custody of a thousand pieces of gold which he wished to leave behind him.

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**Who acts:** he, only matter, safe custody · **What happens:** not settle, be, wish, leave · **To what, where:** only matter, safe custody

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 36. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (he, only matter, safe custody), 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:pg128:36:3
# text = The only matter he could not settle satisfactorily was the safe custody of a thousand pieces of gold which he wished to leave behind him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
5	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	settle	settle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	acl:relcl	_	_
8	satisfactorily	satisfactorily	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	custody	custody	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	thousand	thousand	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nummod	_	_
16	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
19	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **settle** | could | he | the only matter *not said here* |  |  |  | satisfactorily *property* | vn odge-46-1 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme matter=Location |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the only matter | the safe custody |  |  |  | of thousand pieces of gold | tree rules |
| 3 | **wish** | past | the safe custody |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **leave** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the safe custody *not said here* |  |  |  |  | behind him *= he* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent behind he=Location |

<!-- .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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