---
title: On his return he asked the parrot what had happened during his absen… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: On his return he asked the parrot what had happened during his absence, and the parrot told him some things which made him scold his wife. Who acts: man, parrot, things. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of 
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 4, sentence 23

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On his return he asked the parrot what had happened during his absence, and the parrot told him some things which made him scold his wife.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** man, parrot, things · **What happens:** ask, happen, tell, make, scold, return · **To what, where:** parrot, return, things, man, wife · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (man, parrot, things), 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:pg128:4:23
# text = On his return he asked the parrot what had happened during his absence, and the parrot told him some things which made him scold his wife.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	return	return	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	parrot	parrot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	10	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	acl:relcl	_	_
11	during	during	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	absence	absence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	parrot	parrot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	iobj	_	_
20	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	21	det	_	_
21	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
22	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
23	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	scold	scold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | man |  | the parrot | man's return |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent parrot=Recipient |
| 2 | **happen** | past · perfect | the parrot |  |  |  | during man's absence |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the parrot | some things | man |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient thing=Topic |
| 4 | **make** | past | some things | man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **scold** | infinitive | man *not said here* | man's wife |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Theme |
| 6 | **return** |  | man |  |  |  |  |  | nom return «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |
| 7 | **absent** |  | man |  |  |  |  |  | nom absence «state transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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