---
title: The excuse he gave for his appearance was that he had come to consul… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: The excuse he gave for his appearance was that he had come to consult the chief of the dervishes on a private matter of great importance. " Who acts: excuse, appearance, great importance. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 9, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 9, sentence 53

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The excuse he gave for his appearance was that he had come to consult the chief of the dervishes on a private matter of great importance. "

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**Who acts:** excuse, appearance, great importance · **What happens:** give, come, consult, matter · **To what, where:** chief, private matter

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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 (excuse, appearance, great importance), 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:pg128:9:53
# text = The excuse he gave for his appearance was that he had come to consult the chief of the dervishes on a private matter of great importance. "
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	excuse	excuse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	appearance	appearance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	ccomp	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	consult	consult	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	dervishes	dervish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	_
20	on	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	private	private	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	importance	importance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
28	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past | the excuse |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **come** | past · perfect | excuse's appearance |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **consult** | to-infinitive | excuse's appearance *not said here* | the chief of the dervishes |  | a private matter of great importance |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chief=Theme |
| 4 | **matter** |  | great importance |  |  |  |  |  | nom matter «cognition intransitive»: of=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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