---
title: On approaching the house, the Sultan noticed a vast quantity of bird… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: On approaching the house, the Sultan noticed a vast quantity of birds, whose voices filled the air, and he inquired why they were so much more numerous here than in any other part of the garden. Who acts: Sultan, voices. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 44, sentence 37

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On approaching the house, the Sultan noticed a vast quantity of birds, whose voices filled the air, and he inquired why they were so much more numerous here than in any other part of the garden.

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**Who acts:** Sultan, voices · **What happens:** approach, notice, fill, inquire, be · **To what, where:** house, vast quantity, air

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 44. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Sultan, voices), 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:pg128:44:37
# text = On approaching the house, the Sultan noticed a vast quantity of birds, whose voices filled the air, and he inquired why they were so much more numerous here than in any other part of the garden.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	approaching	approach	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	noticed	notice	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	vast	vast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	quantity	quantity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	voices	voice	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
17	filled	fill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	inquired	inquire	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
24	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	30	advmod	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
27	so	so	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
28	much	much	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	30	advmod	_	_
30	numerous	numerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	ccomp	_	_
31	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	30	advmod	_	_
32	than	than	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	36	det	_	_
35	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **approach** | gerund | the Sultan *not said here* | the house |  |  |  |  | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent house=Theme |
| 2 | **notice** | past | the Sultan | a vast quantity of birds |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer quantity=Stimulus |
| 3 | **fill** | past | voices | the air |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent air=Patient |
| 4 | **inquire** *speech: other* | past | Sultan |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** | past | voices *= voice* |  |  | here |  | than any other part of the garden; numerous *property* | 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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