---
title: For some reason that the princess could not guess these words seemed… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: For some reason that the princess could not guess these words seemed to displease the bird, and he did not answer. Who acts: princess, bird. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 43, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 43, sentence 1

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For some reason that the princess could not guess these words seemed to displease the bird, and he did not answer.

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**Who acts:** princess, bird · **What happens:** not guess, seem, displease, not answer · **To what, where:** words, bird

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 43. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (princess, bird), 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:pg128:43:1
# text = For some reason that the princess could not guess these words seemed to displease the bird, and he did not answer.
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	det	_	_
3	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	guess	guess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
10	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	11	det	_	_
11	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
12	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	displease	displease	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	answer	answer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **guess** | could | the princess | this words |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme |
| 2 | **seem** | past |  |  |  |  |  | for some reason | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 3 | **displease** | to-infinitive |  | the bird |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus bird=Experiencer |
| 4 | **not** **answer** *speech: assert* | past · do-support | bird |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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