---
title: "What is the matter, my sister?" asked Prince Bahman; "why are you s… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: "What is the matter, my sister?" asked Prince Bahman; "why are you so grave? Who acts: matter, Prince. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 41, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/41/63/)

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 41, sentence 63

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"What is the matter, my sister?" asked Prince Bahman; "why are you so grave?

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**Who acts:** matter, Prince · **What happens:** be, ask · **To what, where:** matter, Prince · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (matter, Prince), 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:pg128:41:63
# text = "What is the matter, my sister?" asked Prince Bahman; "why are you so grave?
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
11	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	iobj	_	_
13	Bahman	Bahman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
17	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
18	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	grave	grave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | the matter |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the matter |  | Prince |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent prince=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | Prince |  |  |  |  | grave *property* | tree rules |

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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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