--- title: "Madam," answered the porter, "these gentlemen entreat you to explai… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: "Madam," answered the porter, "these gentlemen entreat you to explain to them why you should first whip the dogs and then cry over them, and also how it happens that the fainting lady is covered with scars. Who acts: Madam, gentlemen, you, it. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by And --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/7/14/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Arabian Nights Entertainments](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/) / [Opening, part 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/7/) / 14 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 7, sentence 14 "Madam," answered the porter, "these gentlemen entreat you to explain to them why you should first whip the dogs and then cry over them, and also how it happens that the fainting lady is covered with scars. **Who acts:** Madam, gentlemen, you, it · **What happens:** answer, entreat, explain, whip, cry, happen · **To what, where:** porter, you, gentlemen, dogs, fainting lady · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (Madam, gentlemen, you, it), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg128:7:14 # text = "Madam," answered the porter, "these gentlemen entreat you to explain to them why you should first whip the dogs and then cry over them, and also how it happens that the fainting lady is covered with scars. 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Madam madam NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 4 " " PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ 5 answered answer VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 porter porter NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 9 " " PUNCT `` _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 10 these this DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 11 det _ _ 11 gentlemen gentleman NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 nsubj _ _ 12 entreat entreat VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 conj _ _ 13 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 12 obj _ _ 14 to to PART TO _ 15 mark _ _ 15 explain explain VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 advcl _ _ 16 to to ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 obl _ _ 18 why why ADV WRB PronType=Int 22 advmod _ _ 19 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 20 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 21 first first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 22 advmod _ _ 22 whip whip VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 advcl _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 dogs dog NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 obj _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 26 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 27 advmod _ _ 27 cry cry VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 22 conj _ _ 28 over over 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 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 32 also also ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ _ 33 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 35 advmod _ _ 34 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 happens happen VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 36 that that SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 38 fainting fainting NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 compound _ _ 39 lady lady NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 nsubj:pass _ _ 40 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 41 aux:pass _ _ 41 covered cover VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 35 advcl _ _ 42 with with ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 43 scars scar NOUN NNS Number=Plur 41 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | Madam | the porter | | | | | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent porter=Eventuality | | 2 | **entreat** *in a quote* | infinitive | this gentlemen | | you | | | | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient | | 3 | **explain** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | to-infinitive | this gentlemen *not said here* | | gentlemen *= gentleman* | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V PP.recipient how S»: agent=Agent to they=Recipient | | 4 | **whip** *in a quote* | should | you | the dogs | | | | first *property* | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent dog=Material | | 5 | **cry** *speech: express* *in a quote* | infinitive | you *not said here* | | | | then | over gentlemen *= gentleman* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over they=Location | | 6 | **happen** *in a quote* | present | it | | | | | | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **cover** *in a quote* | present · passive | | the fainting lady | | | | with scars | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with scar=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/7/13/) - next →: [sentence 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/7/15/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/7/)