---
title: All three tried to guess the meaning of the singular counsel, but th… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: All three tried to guess the meaning of the singular counsel, but they were forced at last to admit the explanation was beyond them, and they must be content blindly to obey. Who acts: three, brothers. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 43, with its depen
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 43, sentence 92

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
All three tried to guess the meaning of the singular counsel, but they were forced at last to admit the explanation was beyond them, and they must be content blindly to obey.

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**Who acts:** three, brothers · **What happens:** try, guess, force, admit, be, obey · **To what, where:** meaning, brothers, last, explanation, singular counsel

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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 (three, brothers), 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:pg128:43:92
# text = All three tried to guess the meaning of the singular counsel, but they were forced at last to admit the explanation was beyond them, and they must be content blindly to obey.
1	All	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	2	det	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nsubj	_	_
3	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	guess	guess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	singular	singular	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	counsel	counsel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	forced	force	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	obl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	admit	admit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	explanation	explanation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	cop	_	_
31	content	content	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	_
32	blindly	blindly	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	obey	obey	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | all three |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **guess** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | all three *not said here* | the meaning of the singular counsel |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Theme |
| 3 | **force** | past · passive |  | brothers *= brother* |  | last |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **admit** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | brothers *= brother* *not said here* | the explanation |  |  |  |  | vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent explanation=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | beyond brothers *= brother* | tree rules |
| 6 | **is** | must | brothers *= brother* |  |  |  |  | blindly, content *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **obey** | to-infinitive | brothers *= brother* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **mean** |  |  | the singular counsel |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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