---
title: "But supposing he does!" answered the king, "what is to hinder the h… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: "But supposing he does!" answered the king, "what is to hinder the horse from descending straight into the sea, or dashing him to pieces on the rocks?" Who acts: rapidity, king. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 37, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 37, sentence 81

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"But supposing he does!" answered the king, "what is to hinder the horse from descending straight into the sea, or dashing him to pieces on the rocks?"

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** rapidity, king · **What happens:** suppose, do, answer, be, descend, dash · **To what, where:** sea, rapidity, rocks · **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 (rapidity, king), 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:pg128:37:81
# text = "But supposing he does!" answered the king, "what is to hinder the horse from descending straight into the sea, or dashing him to pieces on the rocks?"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	supposing	suppose	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	ccomp	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	does	do	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
8	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	16	obj	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	hinder	hinder	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
20	descending	descend	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
21	straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
22	into	into	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	dashing	dash	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	conj	_	_
28	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
31	on	on	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **suppose** *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **do** *in a quote* | present | rapidity |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **answer** *speech: express* | past | the king |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the king *not said here* |  |  |  |  | hinder *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **descend** *in a quote* | gerund | the king *not said here* | the sea |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location sea=Theme |
| 6 | **dash** *in a quote* | gerund | the king *not said here* | rapidity |  | the rocks |  | to pieces *result* | vn hit-18.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent he=Patient to piece=Result |

<!-- .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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