--- title: The eldest and tallest, changing colour, confessed that it was he, a… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: The eldest and tallest, changing colour, confessed that it was he, and to his mother's great alarm, the grand-vizir said that he had strict orders to bring him into the presence of the Caliph. Who acts: eldest changing colour, colour, grand vizir, game. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainmen --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/37/24/) [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 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/37/) / 24 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 37, sentence 24 The eldest and tallest, changing colour, confessed that it was he, and to his mother's great alarm, the grand-vizir said that he had strict orders to bring him into the presence of the Caliph. **Who acts:** eldest changing colour, colour, grand vizir, game, strict orders, mother · **What happens:** change, confess, be, say, have, bring · **To what, where:** great alarm, game, strict orders, presence · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 37. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (eldest changing colour, colour, grand vizir, game), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg128:37:24 # text = The eldest and tallest, changing colour, confessed that it was he, and to his mother's great alarm, the grand-vizir said that he had strict orders to bring him into the presence of the Caliph. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 eldest eld ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 7 amod _ _ 3 and and CCONJ CC _ 4 cc _ _ 4 tallest tall ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 2 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 6 changing change VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 7 amod _ _ 7 colour colour NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 9 confessed confess VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 10 that that SCONJ IN _ 13 mark _ _ 11 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 12 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 cop _ _ 13 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 16 to to ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 17 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 18 nmod:poss _ _ 18 mother mother NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 19 's 's PART POS _ 18 case _ _ 20 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 21 alarm alarm NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 24 grand grand ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 25 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 24 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 26 vizir vizir NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nsubj _ _ 27 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 conj _ _ 28 that that SCONJ IN _ 30 mark _ _ 29 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 30 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 ccomp _ _ 31 strict strict ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 amod _ _ 32 orders order NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 obj _ _ 33 to to PART TO _ 34 mark _ _ 34 bring bring VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 xcomp _ _ 35 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 obj _ _ 36 into into ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 presence presence NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obl _ _ 39 of of ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 Caliph Caliph PROPN NNP Number=Sing 38 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **change** | gerund | | | | | | | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **confess** | past | eldest changing colour | | game's mother's great alarm | | | | vn confess-37.10 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to alarm=Recipient | | 3 | **is a** | past | colour | game | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the grand vizir | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 5 | **have** | past | game | strict orders | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **bring** | to-infinitive | strict orders *not said here* | game | | the presence of the Caliph | | | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme into presence=Destination | | 7 | **alarm** | | game's mother | | | | | | nom alarm «feeling transitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/37/23/) - next →: [sentence 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/37/25/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/37/)