---
title: "Oh, if only the Sultan had had sons like that!" they murmured, "the… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: "Oh, if only the Sultan had had sons like that!" they murmured, "they look so distinguished and are about the same age that his sons would have been!" Who acts: Sultan, sons. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 43, with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 43, sentence 69

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Oh, if only the Sultan had had sons like that!" they murmured, "they look so distinguished and are about the same age that his sons would have been!"

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Sultan, sons · **What happens:** have, murmur, look, be · **To what, where:** sons · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Sultan, sons), 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:pg128:43:69
# text = "Oh, if only the Sultan had had sons like that!" they murmured, "they look so distinguished and are about the same age that his sons would have been!"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Oh	oh	INTJ	UH	_	9	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
10	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
11	like	like	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	murmured	murmur	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	look	look	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	ccomp	_	_
21	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	distinguished	distinguished	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	xcomp	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
24	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
25	about	about	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
29	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	34	obj	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nsubj	_	_
32	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
33	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	aux	_	_
34	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	28	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past · perfect | the Sultan | sons |  |  |  | like that | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Patient |
| 2 | **murmur** *speech: other* | past | sons *= son* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **look** *in a quote* | present | sons *= son* |  |  |  |  | distinguished *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | sons *= son* *not said here* |  |  |  | about the same age |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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