---
title: Now as a good Mussulman the merchant was forbidden to refuse this ch… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Now as a good Mussulman the merchant was forbidden to refuse this choice of a judge, so he accepted the test, and said to Ali Cogia, "Very well; I should like nothing better. Who acts: law. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 36, with its dependency tree a
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/36/83/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Arabian Nights Entertainments](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/) / [Opening, part 36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/36/) / 83

# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 36, sentence 83

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now as a good Mussulman the merchant was forbidden to refuse this choice of a judge, so he accepted the test, and said to Ali Cogia, "Very well; I should like nothing better.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** law · **What happens:** forbid, refuse, accept, say, like · **To what, where:** merchant, choice, test, Ali, nothing · **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 (law), 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:pg128:36:83
# text = Now as a good Mussulman the merchant was forbidden to refuse this choice of a judge, so he accepted the test, and said to Ali Cogia, "Very well; I should like nothing better.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	9	advmod	_	_
2	as	as	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	Mussulman	mussulman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	forbidden	forbid	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	refuse	refuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	13	det	_	_
13	choice	choice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	judge	judge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	accepted	accept	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	test	test	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	Ali	Ali	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
28	Cogia	Cogia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	Very	very	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	36	punct	_	_
34	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
35	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
37	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	36	obj	_	_
38	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	36	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **forbid** | past · passive |  | the merchant |  |  | now | as a good Mussulman | tree rules |
| 2 | **refuse** | to-infinitive |  | this choice of a judge |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent choice=Theme |
| 3 | **accept** | past | law | the test |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent test=Theme |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | law *not said here* |  | Ali |  |  | well *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to ali=Recipient |
| 5 | **like** *in a quote* | should | law | nothing |  |  |  | good *property* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Pivot nothing=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 82](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/36/82/)
- next →: [sentence 84](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/36/84/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/36/)