--- title: The grand-vizir saw that it was useless to say more, and, full of tr… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: The grand-vizir saw that it was useless to say more, and, full of triumph, the sisters watched the building of the box, and then listened to the jeers of the people at the helpless Sultana sitting inside. Who acts: grand vizir, it, sisters, people. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» b --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/41/21/) [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 41](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/41/) / 21 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 41, sentence 21 The grand-vizir saw that it was useless to say more, and, full of triumph, the sisters watched the building of the box, and then listened to the jeers of the people at the helpless Sultana sitting inside. **Who acts:** grand vizir, it, sisters, people · **What happens:** see, be, say, watch, listen, sit · **To what, where:** more, building · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 41. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (grand vizir, it, sisters, people), 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:pg128:41:21 # text = The grand-vizir saw that it was useless to say more, and, full of triumph, the sisters watched the building of the box, and then listened to the jeers of the people at the helpless Sultana sitting inside. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 2 grand grand ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 3 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 4 vizir vizir NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 5 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 that that SCONJ IN _ 9 mark _ _ 7 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 8 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 cop _ _ 9 useless useless ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 ccomp _ _ 10 to to PART TO _ 11 mark _ _ 11 say say VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 csubj _ _ 12 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 11 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 16 full full ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 conj _ _ 17 of of ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 18 triumph triumph NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 sisters sister NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 nsubj _ _ 22 watched watch VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 building building NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obj _ _ 25 of of ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 box box NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 30 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 31 advmod _ _ 31 listened listen VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 conj _ _ 32 to to ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 jeers jeer NOUN NNS Number=Plur 31 obl _ _ 35 of of ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 nmod _ _ 38 at at ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 40 helpless helpless ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 41 amod _ _ 41 Sultana Sultana PROPN NNP Number=Sing 37 nmod _ _ 42 sitting sit VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 37 acl _ _ 43 inside inside ADV RB _ 42 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **see** | past | the grand vizir | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 2 | **is** | past | it | | | | | useless *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | | more | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent more=Topic | | 4 | **watch** | past | the sisters | the building of the box | | | | | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent building=Theme | | 5 | **listen** | past | the sisters *not said here* | | | | then | to the jeers of the people at the helpless Sultana | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to jeer=Theme | | 6 | **sit** | gerund | the people at the helpless Sultana *not said here* | | | | | inside *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **jeer** | | the people at the helpless Sultana | | | | | | nom jeer «communication intransitive»: of=agent | 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 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/41/20/) - next →: [sentence 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/41/22/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 41](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/41/)