---
title: "If you will be so obstinate," said his wife, "I cannot help it; but… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: "If you will be so obstinate," said his wife, "I cannot help it; but do not blame me if it turns out ill." Who acts: you, wife, light. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 36, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 36, sentence 34

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"If you will be so obstinate," said his wife, "I cannot help it; but do not blame me if it turns out ill."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, wife, light · **What happens:** be, say, not help, not blame, turn out · **To what, where:** light, wife · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (you, wife, light), 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:pg128:36:34
# text = "If you will be so obstinate," said his wife, "I cannot help it; but do not blame me if it turns out ill."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
4	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	obstinate	obstinate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
14	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
18	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
24	blame	blame	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
25	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	turns	turn	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	_
29	out	out	ADP	RP	_	28	compound:prt	_	_
30	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | future | you |  |  |  |  | obstinate *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | husband's wife |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **help** *in a quote* | can | husband's wife *= wife* | light |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **not** **blame** *in a quote* | infinitive · do-support | husband's wife *= wife* *not said here* | husband's wife *= wife* |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 5 | **turn out** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | light |  |  |  |  | ill *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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