---
title: "How can I be better," answered the Sultan, imitating the language o… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: "How can I be better," answered the Sultan, imitating the language of the Ethiopians, "when I can never sleep for the cries and groans of your husband?" Who acts: Sultan, husband. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the prag
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 5, sentence 113

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"How can I be better," answered the Sultan, imitating the language of the Ethiopians, "when I can never sleep for the cries and groans of your husband?"

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**Who acts:** Sultan, husband · **What happens:** be, answer, imitate, not sleep, groan · **To what, where:** language · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Sultan, husband), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg128:5:113
# text = "How can I be better," answered the Sultan, imitating the language of the Ethiopians, "when I can never sleep for the cries and groans of your husband?"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
6	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	_
9	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Sultan	Sultan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	imitating	imitate	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	Ethiopians	Ethiopian	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
20	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	25	mark	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
23	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
24	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
25	sleep	sleep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	cries	cry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	groans	groan	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	conj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | can | the Sultan *= sultan* |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **answer** *speech: ask* | past | the Sultan |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **imitate** | gerund | the Sultan *not said here* | the language of the Ethiopians |  |  |  |  | vn patent-101 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent language=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **sleep** *in a quote* | can | the Sultan *= sultan* |  |  |  |  | for the cries and groans of your husband | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **groan** *in a quote* |  | your husband |  |  |  |  |  | nom groan «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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