---
title: The vizir replied that the ladies who lived there seemed to be enter… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: The vizir replied that the ladies who lived there seemed to be entertaining their friends, and he thought his master would do well not to intrude on them; but the Caliph had taken it into his head to see for himself, and insisted on being obeyed. Who acts: vizir, ladies, master. A sentence of «The A
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 6, sentence 71

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The vizir replied that the ladies who lived there seemed to be entertaining their friends, and he thought his master would do well not to intrude on them; but the Caliph had taken it into his head to see for himself, and insisted on being obeyed.

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**Who acts:** vizir, ladies, master · **What happens:** reply, live, seem, entertain, think, do · **To what, where:** friends, Caliph, head · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (vizir, ladies, master), 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:pg128:6:71
# text = The vizir replied that the ladies who lived there seemed to be entertaining their friends, and he thought his master would do well not to intrude on them; but the Caliph had taken it into his head to see for himself, and insisted on being obeyed.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	vizir	vizir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	ladies	lady	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
10	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
12	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	aux	_	_
13	entertaining	entertain	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	xcomp	_	_
14	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
22	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	ccomp	_	_
24	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	23	advmod	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	intrude	intrude	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	advcl:relcl	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	Caliph	Caliph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	nsubj:pass	_	_
34	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	_
37	into	into	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	advcl	_	_
42	for	for	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	insisted	insist	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
47	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
48	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	49	aux:pass	_	_
49	obeyed	obey	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	46	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the vizir |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **live** | past | the ladies |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **seem** | past | the ladies |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 4 | **entertain** | to-infinitive · progressive | the ladies *not said here* | Ladies's friends |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus friend=Experiencer |
| 5 | **think** *speech: other* | past | vizir |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 6 | **do** | would | vizir's master |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **not** **intrude** | to-infinitive | vizir's master *not said here* |  |  |  |  | on Ladies *= lady* | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **take** | past · perfect · passive |  | the Caliph |  | Caliph's head |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **see** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | for Caliph | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 10 | **insist** *speech: other* | participle | the vizir *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 11 | **obey** | gerund · passive | the vizir *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP» |

<!-- .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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