---
title: "This vizir," he replied, "told King Sindbad that one ought not beli… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: "This vizir," he replied, "told King Sindbad that one ought not believe everything that a mother-in-law says, and told him this story." Who acts: vizir, one, mother. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 4, sentence 16

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"This vizir," he replied, "told King Sindbad that one ought not believe everything that a mother-in-law says, and told him this story."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** vizir, one, mother · **What happens:** reply, tell, not believe, say · **To what, where:** vizir, King, everything, story · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (vizir, one, mother), 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:pg128:4:16
# text = "This vizir," he replied, "told King Sindbad that one ought not believe everything that a mother-in-law says, and told him this story."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	vizir	vizir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	iobj	_	_
12	Sindbad	Sindbad	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	flat	_	_
13	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	14	det	_	_
14	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	nsubj	_	_
15	ought	ought	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
17	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
18	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	17	obj	_	_
19	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	obj	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
26	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	iobj	_	_
31	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	32	det	_	_
32	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | vizir | this vizir *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent vizir=Topic |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past |  |  | King |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent king=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **believe** *in a quote* | ought | that one | everything |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer everything=Stimulus |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | a mother in law |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent that=Topic |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past |  | this story | king |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient story=Topic |

<!-- .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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