--- title: The princess could not find words in which to reply to the arguments… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: The princess could not find words in which to reply to the arguments of the Prince of Persia, but her silence and her downcast eyes spoke for her, and declared that she had no objection to accompanying him on his travels. Who acts: princess, silence. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/39/4/) [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 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/39/) / 4 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 39, sentence 4 The princess could not find words in which to reply to the arguments of the Prince of Persia, but her silence and her downcast eyes spoke for her, and declared that she had no objection to accompanying him on his travels. **Who acts:** princess, silence · **What happens:** not find, reply, speak, declare, have, accompany · **To what, where:** words, objection, Persia, Prince · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 39. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (princess, silence), 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:pg128:39:4 # text = The princess could not find words in which to reply to the arguments of the Prince of Persia, but her silence and her downcast eyes spoke for her, and declared that she had no objection to accompanying him on his travels. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 princess princess NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 3 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 4 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 5 advmod _ _ 5 find find VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 6 words word NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 obj _ _ 7 in in ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 8 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 10 obl _ _ 9 to to PART TO _ 10 mark _ _ 10 reply reply VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 acl:relcl _ _ 11 to to ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 arguments argument NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 obl _ _ 14 of of ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 Prince Prince PROPN NNP Number=Sing 13 nmod _ _ 17 of of ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 18 Persia Persia PROPN NNP Number=Sing 16 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 20 but but CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 21 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 22 nmod:poss _ _ 22 silence silence NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nsubj _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 24 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 26 nmod:poss _ _ 25 downcast downcast NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 compound _ _ 26 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 conj _ _ 27 spoke speak VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 parataxis _ _ 28 for for ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 29 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 32 declared declare VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 33 that that SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 34 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 ccomp _ _ 36 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 37 det _ _ 37 objection objection NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ _ 38 to to SCONJ IN _ 39 mark _ _ 39 accompanying accompany VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 37 acl _ _ 40 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 obj _ _ 41 on on SCONJ IN _ 43 mark _ _ 42 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 43 nmod:poss _ _ 43 travels travel VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 39 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **find** | could | the princess | words | | | | | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Topic | | 2 | **reply** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | the princess *not said here* | words *not said here* | | words | | to the arguments of the Prince of Persia | vn respond-113 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to argument=Theme | | 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | Princess's silence and Princess's downcast eyes | | | | | for Princess | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **declare** *speech: other* | past | the princess *not said here* | | | | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 5 | **have** | past | Princess | no objection | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent objection=Patient | | 6 | **accompany** | gerund | Princess *not said here* | Persia | | | | | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | | 7 | **travel** | present | Princess *not said here* | | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **argue** | | | the Prince of Persia | | | | | nom argument «communication transitive»: of=patient | | 9 | **silence** | | Princess | | | | | | nom silence «state 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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/39/3/) - next →: [sentence 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/39/5/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/39/)