--- title: The Sultan thought the question very natural, and told him the same… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: The Sultan thought the question very natural, and told him the same story that the Princess of Bengal had done, adding that he had ordered the enchanted horse to be taken to his treasury as a curiosity, though he was quite ignorant how it could be used. Who acts: Sultan. A sentence of «The Arabian N --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/40/23/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Arabian Nights Entertainments](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/) / [Opening, part 40](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/40/) / 23 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 40, sentence 23 The Sultan thought the question very natural, and told him the same story that the Princess of Bengal had done, adding that he had ordered the enchanted horse to be taken to his treasury as a curiosity, though he was quite ignorant how it could be used. **Who acts:** Sultan · **What happens:** think, tell, do, add, order, enchant · **To what, where:** question, same story, Sultan, Princess, enchanted horse, story · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (Sultan), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg128:40:23 # text = The Sultan thought the question very natural, and told him the same story that the Princess of Bengal had done, adding that he had ordered the enchanted horse to be taken to his treasury as a curiosity, though he was quite ignorant how it could be used. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 Sultan Sultan PROPN NNP Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 question question NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ _ 6 very very ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _ 7 natural natural ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 10 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 11 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 iobj _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 13 same same ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 14 amod _ _ 14 story story NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obj _ _ 15 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 21 obj _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 Princess Princess PROPN NNP Number=Sing 21 nsubj:pass _ _ 18 of of ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 19 Bengal Bengal PROPN NNP Number=Sing 17 nmod _ _ 20 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 aux _ _ 21 done do VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 14 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 23 adding add VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 10 advcl _ _ 24 that that SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 25 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 26 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 27 ordered order VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 23 ccomp _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 29 enchanted enchant VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 30 amod _ _ 30 horse horse NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obj _ _ 31 to to PART TO _ 33 mark _ _ 32 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 33 aux:pass _ _ 33 taken take VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 30 acl _ _ 34 to to ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 35 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 36 nmod:poss _ _ 36 treasury treasury NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ _ 37 as as ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 curiosity curiosity NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 41 though though SCONJ IN _ 45 mark _ _ 42 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 nsubj _ _ 43 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 45 cop _ _ 44 quite quite ADV RB _ 45 advmod _ _ 45 ignorant ignorant ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 parataxis _ _ 46 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 50 advmod _ _ 47 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 50 nsubj:pass _ _ 48 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 50 aux _ _ 49 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 50 aux:pass _ _ 50 used use VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 45 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the Sultan | the question | | | | natural *property* | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot question=Theme | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | | the same story | Sultan | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient story=Topic | | 3 | **do** | past · perfect · passive | | the Princess of Bengal | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **add** *speech: assert* | gerund | | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 5 | **order** | past · perfect | Sultan | | the enchanted horse | | | | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horse=Theme | | 6 | **enchant** | participle | | | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | | 7 | **take** | to-infinitive · passive | Sultan *not said here* | | | | | to Sultan's treasury *result*; as a curiosity | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: to treasury=Result | | 8 | **is** | past | Sultan | | | | | ignorant *property* | tree rules | | 9 | **use** | could · passive | | story | | | | | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/40/22/) - next →: [sentence 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/40/24/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 40](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/40/)