---
title: In order to do this he asked to speak in private with the king, sayi… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: In order to do this he asked to speak in private with the king, saying that he had a most important communication to make. Who acts: king. 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 7

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In order to do this he asked to speak in private with the king, saying that he had a most important communication to make.

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**Who acts:** king · **What happens:** do, ask, speak, say, have, make · **To what, where:** this, private, important communication · **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 (king), 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:pg128:4:7
# text = In order to do this he asked to speak in private with the king, saying that he had a most important communication to make.
1	In	in	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	4	mark	_	_
2	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	fixed	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	_
5	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	obj	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	private	private	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	obl	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	ccomp	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
21	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	22	advmod	_	_
22	important	important	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	communication	communication	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | this |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent this=Eventuality |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | king |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | king *not said here* |  |  | private |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | king *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **have** | past | king | a important communication |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent communication=Patient |
| 6 | **make** | to-infinitive | king *not said here* | a important communication *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |

<!-- .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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