---
title: It needed but a few words from the princess to make him acquainted w… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: It needed but a few words from the princess to make him acquainted with the whole situation, and how she had been forced to play the part of a mad woman in order to escape from a marriage with the Sultan, who had not had sufficient politeness even to ask her consent. Who acts: devise, Prince, prince
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 40, sentence 13

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It needed but a few words from the princess to make him acquainted with the whole situation, and how she had been forced to play the part of a mad woman in order to escape from a marriage with the Sultan, who had not had sufficient politeness even to ask her consent.

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**Who acts:** devise, Prince, princess, marriage · **What happens:** need, make, acquaint, force, play, escape · **To what, where:** few words, Prince, princess, part, marriage, sufficient politeness

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 40. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (devise, Prince, princess, marriage), 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:pg128:40:13
# text = It needed but a few words from the princess to make him acquainted with the whole situation, and how she had been forced to play the part of a mad woman in order to escape from a marriage with the Sultan, who had not had sufficient politeness even to ask her consent.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	needed	need	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
7	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	acquainted	acquaint	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	xcomp	_	_
14	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	situation	situation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
20	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	24	advmod	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	forced	force	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	mad	mad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
33	in	in	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	36	mark	_	_
34	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	fixed	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	escape	escape	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	advcl	_	_
37	from	from	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	marriage	marriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
40	with	with	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
44	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	47	nsubj	_	_
45	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
46	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	47	advmod	_	_
47	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	39	conj	_	_
48	sufficient	sufficient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	politeness	politeness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	_
50	even	even	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	_
51	to	to	PART	TO	_	52	mark	_	_
52	ask	ask	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	47	parataxis	_	_
53	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	consent	consent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | past | devise | a few words |  |  |  | from the princess | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot word=Theme |
| 2 | **make** | to-infinitive | devise *not said here* | Prince |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **acquaint** *speech: other* | participle | Prince *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with the whole situation | vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **force** | past · perfect · passive |  | princess |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **play** | to-infinitive | princess *not said here* | the part of a mad woman |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent part=Theme |
| 6 | **escape** | to-infinitive | princess *not said here* |  |  | a marriage with the Sultan |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from marriage=Initial\_Location |
| 7 | **not** **have** | past · perfect | a marriage with the Sultan | sufficient politeness |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent politeness=Patient |
| 8 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive |  | princess's consent |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent consent=Recipient |
| 9 | **consent** |  | princess |  |  |  |  |  | nom consent «communication 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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