--- title: A few, who pretended to be cleverer than the rest, declared that the… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: A few, who pretended to be cleverer than the rest, declared that they could diagnose sick people only from sight, ordered her certain potions, which she made no difficulty about taking, as she was persuaded they were all harmless. Who acts: few, doctors, certain potions, difficulty. A sentence of «T --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/39/73/) [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/) / 73 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 39, sentence 73 A few, who pretended to be cleverer than the rest, declared that they could diagnose sick people only from sight, ordered her certain potions, which she made no difficulty about taking, as she was persuaded they were all harmless. **Who acts:** few, doctors, certain potions, difficulty · **What happens:** pretend, be, declare, diagnose, order, make · **To what, where:** sick people, sight, certain potions, Princess, difficulty · **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 (few, doctors, certain potions, difficulty), 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:pg128:39:73 # text = A few, who pretended to be cleverer than the rest, declared that they could diagnose sick people only from sight, ordered her certain potions, which she made no difficulty about taking, as she was persuaded they were all harmless. 1 A a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 few few ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ _ 4 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 5 nsubj _ _ 5 pretended pretend VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 to to PART TO _ 8 mark _ _ 7 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 8 cop _ _ 8 cleverer clever ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 5 ccomp _ _ 9 than than ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 rest rest NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 13 declared declare VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 14 that that SCONJ IN _ 17 mark _ _ 15 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 16 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 17 aux _ _ 17 diagnose diagnose VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 ccomp _ _ 18 sick sick ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 19 amod _ _ 19 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 obj _ _ 20 only only ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ _ 21 from from ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 22 sight sight NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 24 ordered order VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 advcl _ _ 25 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 obj _ _ 26 certain certain ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 27 potions potion NOUN NNS Number=Plur 24 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 29 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 31 nsubj _ _ 30 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 31 made make VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 acl:relcl _ _ 32 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 33 det _ _ 33 difficulty difficulty NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obj _ _ 34 about about SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 35 taking take VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 33 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 37 as as SCONJ IN _ 40 mark _ _ 38 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj:pass _ _ 39 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 40 aux:pass _ _ 40 persuaded persuade VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 35 ccomp _ _ 41 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 44 nsubj _ _ 42 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 44 cop _ _ 43 all all ADV RB _ 44 advmod _ _ 44 harmless harmless ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **pretend** | past | a few | | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | a few *not said here* | | | | | than the rest; clever *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **declare** *speech: other* | past | a few *not said here* | | | | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 4 | **diagnose** | could | doctors *= doctor* | sick people | | sight | | | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent people=Theme | | 5 | **order** | past | a few *not said here* | certain potions | Princess | | | | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent she=Beneficiary potion=Theme | | 6 | **make** | past | certain potions | no difficulty | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset difficulty=Product | | 7 | **take** | gerund | no difficulty *not said here* | | | | | | vn require-103 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Precondition | | 8 | **persuade** | past · passive | | Princess | | | | | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | | 9 | **is** | past | doctors *= doctor* | | | | | all, harmless *property* | tree rules | 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 72](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/39/72/) - next →: [sentence 74](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/39/74/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/39/)