---
title: I should like to show it to you, but you must first swear two things… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: I should like to show it to you, but you must first swear two things: to be faithful to me, and to keep my secret." Who acts: I, you. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 7, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 7, sentence 58

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I should like to show it to you, but you must first swear two things: to be faithful to me, and to keep my secret."

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**Who acts:** I, you · **What happens:** like, show, swear, be, keep · **To what, where:** number, you, two things, me, secret

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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 (I, you), 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:pg128:7:58
# text = I should like to show it to you, but you must first swear two things: to be faithful to me, and to keep my secret."
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	14	advmod	_	_
14	swear	swear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
15	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nummod	_	_
16	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
19	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	cop	_	_
20	faithful	faithful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	acl:relcl	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
27	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	secret	secret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **like** | should | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **show** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | number | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Topic to you=Recipient |
| 3 | **swear** | must | you | two things |  |  |  | first *property* | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality |
| 4 | **is** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | two things *not said here* | me |  |  | faithful *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **keep** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | my secret |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent secret=Theme |

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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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