--- title: Still the Sultan saw no one, till he heard a plaintive cry, and a vo… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: Still the Sultan saw no one, till he heard a plaintive cry, and a voice which said, "Oh that I could die, for I am too unhappy to wish to live any longer!" Who acts: Sultan, voice. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pra --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/5/74/) [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 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/5/) / 74 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 5, sentence 74 Still the Sultan saw no one, till he heard a plaintive cry, and a voice which said, "Oh that I could die, for I am too unhappy to wish to live any longer!" **Who acts:** Sultan, voice · **What happens:** still, see, hear, say, die, be · **To what, where:** one, plaintive cry · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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, voice), 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:pg128:5:74 # text = Still the Sultan saw no one, till he heard a plaintive cry, and a voice which said, "Oh that I could die, for I am too unhappy to wish to live any longer!" 1 Still still VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 ccomp _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 Sultan Sultan PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 6 det _ _ 6 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 8 till till SCONJ IN _ 10 mark _ _ 9 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 10 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 11 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 12 plaintive plaintive ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 13 cry cry NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 16 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 voice voice NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nsubj _ _ 18 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 19 nsubj _ _ 19 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 21 " " PUNCT `` _ 26 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 22 Oh oh INTJ UH _ 26 discourse _ _ 23 that that SCONJ IN _ 26 mark _ _ 24 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 25 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 26 aux _ _ 26 die die VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 19 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 28 for for SCONJ IN _ 32 mark _ _ 29 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 30 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 32 cop _ _ 31 too too ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 32 unhappy unhappy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 parataxis _ _ 33 to to PART TO _ 34 mark _ _ 34 wish wish VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 32 advcl _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 live live VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 xcomp _ _ 37 any any ADV RB _ 38 advmod _ _ 38 longer long ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 36 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 39 ! ! PUNCT . _ 26 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 40 " " PUNCT '' _ 26 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **still** | infinitive | | | | | | | vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **see** | past | the Sultan | no one | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **hear** | past | Sultan | a plaintive cry | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer cry=Stimulus | | 4 | **say** *speech: express* | past | a voice | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 5 | **die** *in a quote* | could | a voice *= voice* | | | | | | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 6 | **is** *in a quote* | present | a voice *= voice* | | | | | unhappy *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **wish** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | a voice *= voice* *not said here* | | | | | | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 8 | **live** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | a voice *= voice* *not said here* | | | | | long *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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 73](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/5/73/) - next →: [sentence 75](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/5/75/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/5/)