---
title: But when it is a question of the life of a king it is better to sacr… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: But when it is a question of the life of a king it is better to sacrifice the innocent than save the guilty. Who acts: death. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 4, sentence 34

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But when it is a question of the life of a king it is better to sacrifice the innocent than save the guilty.

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**Who acts:** death · **What happens:** be, sacrifice, save · **To what, where:** question, innocent, guilty

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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 (death), 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:pg128:4:34
# text = But when it is a question of the life of a king it is better to sacrifice the innocent than save the guilty.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	expl	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	parataxis	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	sacrifice	sacrifice	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	csubj	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	innocent	innocent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	obj	_	_
20	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
21	save	save	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	advcl	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	guilty	guilty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | death | a question |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | of the life of a king; good *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **sacrifice** | to-infinitive |  | the innocent |  |  |  |  | vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent innocent=Theme |
| 4 | **save** | infinitive |  | the guilty |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent guilty=Theme |

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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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