---
title: The boy informed them that Ali Cogia declared it was seven years sin… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: The boy informed them that Ali Cogia declared it was seven years since he had placed them in the vase; to which they returned the same answer as the children had done. Who acts: boy, Ali, vase, olives. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 37, with its depen
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 37, sentence 41

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The boy informed them that Ali Cogia declared it was seven years since he had placed them in the vase; to which they returned the same answer as the children had done.

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**Who acts:** boy, Ali, vase, olives · **What happens:** inform, declare, be, place, return, do · **To what, where:** olives, seven years, vase, same answer, children · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (boy, Ali, vase, olives), 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:pg128:37:41
# text = The boy informed them that Ali Cogia declared it was seven years since he had placed them in the vase; to which they returned the same answer as the children had done.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	informed	inform	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	iobj	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	Ali	Ali	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	Cogia	Cogia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	flat	_	_
8	declared	declare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
13	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
17	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	vase	vase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	25	obl	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
29	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
32	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **inform** *speech: other* | past | the boy |  | olives *= olive* |  |  |  | vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient S»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **declare** *speech: other* | past | Ali |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | past | vase | seven years |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **place** | past · perfect | Ali | olives *= olive* |  | the vase |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme in vase=Destination |
| 5 | **return** | past | olives *= olive* | the same answer |  |  |  |  | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent answer=Theme to which=Destination |
| 6 | **do** | past · perfect · passive |  | the children |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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