---
title: "The best means, sire, to put your life in security, is to send for… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: "The best means, sire, to put your life in security, is to send for him at once, and to cut off his head directly he comes," said the vizir. Who acts: best, vizir. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every 
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 4, sentence 74

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"The best means, sire, to put your life in security, is to send for him at once, and to cut off his head directly he comes," said the vizir.

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**Who acts:** best, vizir · **What happens:** mean, put, be, cut off, come, say · **To what, where:** sire, life, security, head · **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 (best, vizir), 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:pg128:4:74
# text = "The best means, sire, to put your life in security, is to send for him at once, and to cut off his head directly he comes," said the vizir.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	nsubj	_	_
4	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	sire	sire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
10	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	security	security	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	_
20	at	at	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	cut	cut	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
26	off	off	ADP	RP	_	25	compound:prt	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
29	directly	directly	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	31	punct	_	_
34	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	parataxis	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	vizir	vizir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** *in a quote* | present | the best | sire |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sire=Topic |
| 2 | **put** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the best *not said here* | your life |  | security |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent life=Theme in security=Destination |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the best *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for vizir; send *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **cut off** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | vizir's head |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **come** *in a quote* | present | vizir |  |  |  |  | directly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the vizir |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=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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