---
title: While the vizir, Giafar, was talking to the ladies the Caliph was oc… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: While the vizir, Giafar, was talking to the ladies the Caliph was occupied in wondering who they could be, and why the three Calenders had each lost his right eye. Who acts: Caliph, three Calenders, each. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 6, with its dep
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 6, sentence 81

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
While the vizir, Giafar, was talking to the ladies the Caliph was occupied in wondering who they could be, and why the three Calenders had each lost his right eye.

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**Who acts:** Caliph, three Calenders, each · **What happens:** talk, be, wonder, have, lose · **To what, where:** each, right eye · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .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 (Caliph, three Calenders, each), 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:pg128:6:81
# text = While the vizir, Giafar, was talking to the ladies the Caliph was occupied in wondering who they could be, and why the three Calenders had each lost his right eye.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	vizir	vizir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	Giafar	Giafar	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	csubj	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	ladies	lady	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Caliph	Caliph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	occupied	occupied	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
16	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
17	wondering	wonder	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	advcl	_	_
18	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	be	be	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
24	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	28	advmod	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	27	nummod	_	_
27	Calenders	calender	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj	_	_
28	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	parataxis	_	_
29	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	28	obj	_	_
30	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	xcomp	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
32	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	eye	eye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | past · progressive |  |  |  |  |  | to the ladies | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to lady=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | the Caliph |  |  |  |  | occupied *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | gerund | the Caliph *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **can** | could |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **have** | past | the three Calenders | each |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **lose** | participle | each *not said here* | Caliph's right eye |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eye=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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