---
title: For on the door was written in letters of gold, "Whoso meddles in af… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: For on the door was written in letters of gold, "Whoso meddles in affairs that are no business of his, will hear truths that will not please him." Who acts: Whoso, that, truths. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragma
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 6, sentence 56

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
For on the door was written in letters of gold, "Whoso meddles in affairs that are no business of his, will hear truths that will not please him."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Whoso, that, truths · **What happens:** write, meddle, be, hear, not please, letter · **To what, where:** door, letters, affairs, business, truths, Amina

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Whoso, that, truths), 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:pg128:6:56
# text = For on the door was written in letters of gold, "Whoso meddles in affairs that are no business of his, will hear truths that will not please him."
1	For	for	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	on	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	advcl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	Whoso	whoso	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
14	meddles	meddle	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	affairs	affair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
17	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
18	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
19	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	20	det	_	_
20	business	business	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	hear	hear	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	22	parataxis	_	_
26	truths	truth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	_
27	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	30	nsubj	_	_
28	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
30	please	please	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	acl:relcl	_	_
31	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | past · passive |  | the door |  | letters of gold |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in letter=Destination |
| 2 | **meddle** *in a quote* | present | Whoso |  |  | affairs |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | that | Amina's business |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **hear** *in a quote* | future |  | truths |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer truth=Stimulus |
| 5 | **not** **please** *in a quote* | future | truths | Amina |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer |
| 6 | **letter** |  |  | gold |  |  |  |  | nom letter «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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