---
title: So she began by saying all sorts of absurdities, and using all kinds… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: So she began by saying all sorts of absurdities, and using all kinds of strange gestures, while the Sultan stood watching her with sorrow and surprise. Who acts: announcement, Sultan. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 39, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 39, sentence 67

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So she began by saying all sorts of absurdities, and using all kinds of strange gestures, while the Sultan stood watching her with sorrow and surprise.

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**Who acts:** announcement, Sultan · **What happens:** begin, say, use, stand, watch, sort · **To what, where:** sorts, kinds, announcement, absurdities · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (announcement, Sultan), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg128:39:67
# text = So she began by saying all sorts of absurdities, and using all kinds of strange gestures, while the Sultan stood watching her with sorrow and surprise.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	sorts	sort	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	absurdities	absurdity	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	using	use	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
13	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	14	det	_	_
14	kinds	kind	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	gestures	gesture	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
23	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	22	xcomp	_	_
24	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	sorrow	sorrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | announcement |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | announcement *not said here* | all sorts of absurdities |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent sort=Topic |
| 3 | **use** | gerund | announcement *not said here* | all kinds of strange gestures |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent kind=Patient |
| 4 | **stand** | past | the Sultan |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **watch** | gerund | the Sultan *not said here* | announcement |  |  |  | with sorrow and surprise | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |
| 6 | **sort** |  |  | absurdities |  |  |  |  | nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

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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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