---
title: At length the Caliph could contain his curiosity no longer, and decl… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: At length the Caliph could contain his curiosity no longer, and declared that he would compel the ladies to tell them the meaning of their strange conduct. Who acts: Caliph, lord, Calenders. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 7, with its dependency tree a
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 7, sentence 10

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At length the Caliph could contain his curiosity no longer, and declared that he would compel the ladies to tell them the meaning of their strange conduct.

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**Who acts:** Caliph, lord, Calenders · **What happens:** contain, declare, compel, tell, mean, conduct · **To what, where:** curiosity, length, ladies, meaning, strange conduct · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Caliph, lord, Calenders), 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:pg128:7:10
# text = At length the Caliph could contain his curiosity no longer, and declared that he would compel the ladies to tell them the meaning of their strange conduct.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Caliph	Caliph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	contain	contain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	curiosity	curiosity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	no	no	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	declared	declare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	compel	compel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	ccomp	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	ladies	lady	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	advcl	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	iobj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
27	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	conduct	conduct	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **contain** | could | the Caliph | lord's curiosity |  | length |  | long *property* | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot curiosity=Theme |
| 2 | **declare** *speech: other* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **compel** | would | lord | the ladies |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lady=Patient |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | lord *not said here* | the meaning of Calenders's strange conduct | ladies *= lady* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient meaning=Topic |
| 5 | **mean** |  |  | Calenders's strange conduct |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 6 | **conduct** |  | Calenders *= calender* |  |  |  |  |  | nom conduct «act 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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