---
title: "The three things, madam," replied the old woman, "are, first, the T… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: "The three things, madam," replied the old woman, "are, first, the Talking Bird, whose voice draws all other singing birds to it, to join in chorus. Who acts: three things, voice. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 41, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 41, sentence 52

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"The three things, madam," replied the old woman, "are, first, the Talking Bird, whose voice draws all other singing birds to it, to join in chorus.

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**Who acts:** three things, voice · **What happens:** be, draw, sing, join · **To what, where:** other singing birds, Bird · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (three things, voice), 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:pg128:41:52
# text = "The three things, madam," replied the old woman, "are, first, the Talking Bird, whose voice draws all other singing birds to it, to join in chorus.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	madam	madam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
9	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	Talking	Talking	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	Bird	Bird	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	draws	draw	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
26	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	29	det	_	_
27	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
28	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	29	amod	_	_
29	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	join	join	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	chorus	chorus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** *speech: assert* | present | the three things |  |  |  |  | the Talking Bird *obl*; first, reply *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **draw** *in a quote* | present | voice | all other singing birds | Bird |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent bird=Theme to it=Destination |
| 3 | **sing** *speech: express* *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **join** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | voice *not said here* |  |  |  |  | in chorus | vn cooperate-73.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in chorus=Theme |

<!-- .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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