--- title: The princess was of course most anxious to entertain the Sultan in a… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: The princess was of course most anxious to entertain the Sultan in a fitting way, but as she had no experience in court customs she ran to the Talking Bird, and begged he would advise her as to what dishes should be served. Who acts: princess, Sultan. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/43/75/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Arabian Nights Entertainments](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/) / [Opening, part 43](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/43/) / 75 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 43, sentence 75 The princess was of course most anxious to entertain the Sultan in a fitting way, but as she had no experience in court customs she ran to the Talking Bird, and begged he would advise her as to what dishes should be served. **Who acts:** princess, Sultan · **What happens:** be, entertain, have, run, beg, advise · **To what, where:** Sultan, fitting way, experience, court customs, princess, dishes · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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, Sultan), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg128:43:75 # text = The princess was of course most anxious to entertain the Sultan in a fitting way, but as she had no experience in court customs she ran to the Talking Bird, and begged he would advise her as to what dishes should be served. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 princess princess NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 cop _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 5 course course NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 fixed _ _ 6 most most ADV RBS Degree=Sup 7 advmod _ _ 7 anxious anxious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 8 to to PART TO _ 9 mark _ _ 9 entertain entertain VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 7 xcomp _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 Sultan Sultan PROPN NNP Number=Sing 9 obj _ _ 12 in in ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 13 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 14 fitting fitting ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 15 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 17 but but CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 18 as as SCONJ IN _ 20 mark _ _ 19 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 20 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 parataxis _ _ 21 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 22 det _ _ 22 experience experience NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obj _ _ 23 in in ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 court court NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 compound _ _ 25 customs custom NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 nmod _ _ 26 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 27 ran run VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 acl:relcl _ _ 28 to to ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 30 Talking Talking PROPN NNP Number=Sing 31 compound _ _ 31 Bird Bird PROPN NNP Number=Sing 27 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 34 begged beg VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 conj _ _ 35 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 36 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 37 aux _ _ 37 advise advise VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 ccomp _ _ 38 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 obj _ _ 39 as as ADP IN ExtPos=ADP 41 case _ _ 40 to to ADP IN _ 39 fixed _ _ 41 what what PRON WP PronType=Rel 37 obl _ _ 42 dishes dish NOUN NNS Number=Plur 45 nsubj:pass _ _ 43 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 44 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 45 aux:pass _ _ 45 served serve VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 41 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the princess | | | | | anxious *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **entertain** | to-infinitive | the princess *not said here* | the Sultan | | a fitting way | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus sultan=Experiencer | | 3 | **have** | past | princess | no experience | | court customs | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent experience=Patient | | 4 | **run** | past | princess | court customs *not said here* | | | | to the Talking Bird *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent custom=Theme to bird=Result | | 5 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | princess *not said here* | | | | | | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 6 | **advise** *speech: other* | would | Sultan | | princess | | | | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient | | 7 | **serve** | should · passive | | dishes | | | | | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Attribute | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 74](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/43/74/) - next →: [sentence 76](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/43/76/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 43](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/43/)