---
title: "Can you possibly understand what the Sultan saw in that little cat,… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: "Can you possibly understand what the Sultan saw in that little cat," said one to the other, "for him to be so fascinated by her?" Who acts: you, Sultan, one, cat. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 40, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 40, sentence 72

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"Can you possibly understand what the Sultan saw in that little cat," said one to the other, "for him to be so fascinated by her?"

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**Who acts:** you, Sultan, one, cat · **What happens:** understand, see, say, fascinate · **To what, where:** Sultan · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (you, Sultan, one, cat), 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:pg128:40:72
# text = "Can you possibly understand what the Sultan saw in that little cat," said one to the other, "for him to be so fascinated by her?"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	possibly	possibly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	understand	understand	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	ccomp	_	_
6	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	obj	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	13	det	_	_
12	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
16	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nsubj	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
22	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj:pass	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
26	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	aux:pass	_	_
27	so	so	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	fascinated	fascinate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	ccomp	_	_
29	by	by	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **understand** *in a quote* | can | you |  |  |  |  | possibly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **see** *in a quote* | past | the Sultan |  |  |  |  | in that little cat | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |
| 3 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | one to the other |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **fascinate** *in a quote* | to-infinitive · passive | cat | Sultan |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus subject=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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