---
title: He was burning to inquire the reason of it all, but was silenced by… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: He was burning to inquire the reason of it all, but was silenced by Zobeida's request, so he tried to rouse himself and to take his part in the conversation, which was very lively, the subject of discussion being the many different sorts of pleasures that there were in the world. Who acts: Caliph, r
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 6, sentence 82

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He was burning to inquire the reason of it all, but was silenced by Zobeida's request, so he tried to rouse himself and to take his part in the conversation, which was very lively, the subject of discussion being the many different sorts of pleasures that there were in the world.

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**Who acts:** Caliph, request, conversation, Zobeida · **What happens:** burn, inquire, silence, try, rouse, take · **To what, where:** reason, Caliph, part, conversation, many different sorts

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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 (Caliph, request, conversation, Zobeida), 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:pg128:6:82
# text = He was burning to inquire the reason of it all, but was silenced by Zobeida's request, so he tried to rouse himself and to take his part in the conversation, which was very lively, the subject of discussion being the many different sorts of pleasures that there were in the world.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	inquire	inquire	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nmod	_	_
10	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	silenced	silence	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	Zobeida	Zobeida	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	's	's	PART	POS	_	16	case	_	_
18	request	request	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	rouse	rouse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
25	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	24	obj	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	conj	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	conversation	conversation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
35	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	38	nsubj	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
37	very	very	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	lively	lively	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	conj	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	discussion	discussion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	_
44	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	48	cop	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
46	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
47	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	sorts	sort	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
50	pleasures	pleasure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	nmod	_	_
51	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	53	obj	_	_
52	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	53	expl	_	_
53	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	acl:relcl	_	_
54	in	in	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **burn** | past · progressive | Caliph |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **inquire** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | Caliph *not said here* | the reason of reason |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent reason=Recipient |
| 3 | **silence** | past · passive | Zobeida's request |  |  |  |  |  | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **try** | past | Caliph |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **rouse** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Caliph *not said here* | Caliph |  |  |  |  | vn stimulate-59.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Patient |
| 6 | **take** | to-infinitive | Caliph *not said here* | Caliph's part |  | the conversation and the subject of discussion |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent part=Value in conversation=Location |
| 7 | **is** | past | the conversation and the subject of discussion |  |  |  |  | lively *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **is a** | gerund |  | the many different sorts |  |  |  | of pleasures | tree rules |
| 9 | **request** |  | Zobeida |  |  |  |  |  | nom request «communication transitive»: poss=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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