---
title: If they were my own sons," he said to himself, "they could not be be… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: If they were my own sons," he said to himself, "they could not be better educated!" and aloud he complimented them on their learning and taste for knowledge. Who acts: apartments, own sons, Sultan. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 43, with its dependenc
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 43, sentence 72

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If they were my own sons," he said to himself, "they could not be better educated!" and aloud he complimented them on their learning and taste for knowledge.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** apartments, own sons, Sultan · **What happens:** be, say, not educate, compliment · **To what, where:** own sons, Sultan, apartments, learning · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (apartments, own sons, Sultan), 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:pg128:43:72
# text = If they were my own sons," he said to himself, "they could not be better educated!" and aloud he complimented them on their learning and taste for knowledge.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
5	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
14	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
16	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
18	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	aux:pass	_	_
19	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	20	advmod	_	_
20	educated	educate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	20	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
24	aloud	aloud	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	complimented	compliment	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
27	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	learning	learning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	taste	taste	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	_
33	for	for	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | apartments *= apartment* | my own sons |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | my own sons |  | Sultan |  |  |  | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to himself=Experiencer clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **educate** *speech: other* | could · passive |  | apartments *= apartment* |  |  |  | well *property* | vn advise-37.9 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 4 | **compliment** *in a quote* | past | Sultan | apartments *= apartment* |  | apartments's learning and taste for knowledge |  | aloud *property* | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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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