---
title: Judging from the few words that reached his ear, they were each expl… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Judging from the few words that reached his ear, they were each explaining what sort of men they wished to marry. Who acts: few words, words. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 40, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 40, sentence 44

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Judging from the few words that reached his ear, they were each explaining what sort of men they wished to marry.

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**Who acts:** few words, words · **What happens:** judge, reach, explain, wish, marry, sort · **To what, where:** few words, ear, sort, men

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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 (few words, words), 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:pg128:40:44
# text = Judging from the few words that reached his ear, they were each explaining what sort of men they wished to marry.
1	Judging	judge	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
2	from	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	14	nsubj	_	_
14	explaining	explain	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	advcl	_	_
15	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	16	det	_	_
16	sort	sort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl:relcl	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **judge** | gerund |  |  |  | the few words |  |  | vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V whether/if S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **reach** | past | the few words | Sultan's ear |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent ear=Theme |
| 3 | **explain** *speech: assert* | past · progressive | words *= word* | what sort of men |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sort=Topic |
| 4 | **wish** | past | words *= word* | what sort of men *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **marry** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | words *= word* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **sort** |  |  | men |  |  |  |  | nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

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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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