---
title: Then the dervish said that it was useless to say more, and he gave h… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the dervish said that it was useless to say more, and he gave her the ball, which she flung before her. Who acts: dervish, it, princess. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 42, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 42, sentence 78

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the dervish said that it was useless to say more, and he gave her the ball, which she flung before her.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** dervish, it, princess · **What happens:** say, be, give, fling · **To what, where:** more, ball, princess · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 42. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dervish, it, princess), 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:pg128:42:78
# text = Then the dervish said that it was useless to say more, and he gave her the ball, which she flung before her.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	dervish	dervish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	csubj	_	_
11	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
16	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	obj	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	flung	fling	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	_
23	before	before	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the dervish |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 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 | **give** | past | dervish | the ball | princess |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent she=Recipient ball=Theme |
| 5 | **fling** | past | princess | the ball |  |  | before difficulty |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent which=Theme before she=Destination |

<!-- .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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