--- title: "Cut her head off," then, "if she is a stranger to you, and I shall… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: "Cut her head off," then, "if she is a stranger to you, and I shall believe you are speaking the truth, and will set you at liberty." Who acts: you, princess, man. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/9/29/) [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 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/9/) / 29 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 9, sentence 29 "Cut her head off," then, "if she is a stranger to you, and I shall believe you are speaking the truth, and will set you at liberty." **Who acts:** you, princess, man · **What happens:** cut off, be, believe, speak, set · **To what, where:** head, you, stranger, truth, liberty · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, princess, man), 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:pg128:9:29 # text = "Cut her head off," then, "if she is a stranger to you, and I shall believe you are speaking the truth, and will set you at liberty." 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Cut cut VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 4 nmod:poss _ _ 4 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obj _ _ 5 off off ADP RP _ 2 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 7 " " PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ 8 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 2 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 10 " " PUNCT `` _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 11 if if SCONJ IN _ 15 mark _ _ 12 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 13 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 15 cop _ _ 14 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 stranger stranger NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 advcl _ _ 16 to to ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 20 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 21 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 22 believe believe VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 conj _ _ 23 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 24 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 25 aux _ _ 25 speaking speak VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 22 ccomp _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 truth truth NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 30 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 31 aux _ _ 31 set set VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 32 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 31 obj _ _ 33 at at ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 34 liberty liberty NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 35 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 36 " " PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **cut off** *in a quote* | imperative | you *not said here* | princess's head | you | | then | | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=Eventuality | | 2 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | princess | a stranger | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **believe** *in a quote* | shall | man | | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 4 | **speak** *speech: other* *in a quote* | present · progressive | you | the truth | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **set** *in a quote* | future | you *not said here* | you | | liberty | | | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent you=Theme at liberty=Destination | 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 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/9/28/) - next →: [sentence 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/9/30/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/9/)