--- title: The merchant refused, saying that he had a reason; and, on Ali Baba’… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The merchant refused, saying that he had a reason; and, on Ali Baba’s asking him what that was, he replied: “It is, sir, that I can eat no victuals that have any salt in them.” Who acts: merchant, Ali Baba, that, Baba. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Forty Thieves, with its d --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/34/129/) [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 Blue Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/) / [The Forty Thieves](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/34/) / 129 # The Blue Fairy Book, The Forty Thieves, sentence 129 The merchant refused, saying that he had a reason; and, on Ali Baba’s asking him what that was, he replied: “It is, sir, that I can eat no victuals that have any salt in them.” **Who acts:** merchant, Ali Baba, that, Baba, reason, victuals · **What happens:** refuse, say, have, ask, be, reply · **To what, where:** reason, merchant, sir, victuals, salt · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Forty Thieves. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (merchant, Ali Baba, that, Baba), 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:pg503:34:129 # text = The merchant refused, saying that he had a reason; and, on Ali Baba’s asking him what that was, he replied: “It is, sir, that I can eat no victuals that have any salt in them.” 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 merchant merchant NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 refused refuse VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ _ 5 saying say VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 3 advcl _ _ 6 that that SCONJ IN _ 8 mark _ _ 7 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 8 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 ccomp _ _ 9 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 reason reason NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 ; ; PUNCT : _ 25 punct _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 14 on on SCONJ IN _ 18 mark _ _ 15 Ali Ali PROPN NNP Number=Sing 16 compound _ _ 16 Baba Baba PROPN NNP Number=Sing 18 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 17 ’s 's PART POS _ 16 case _ _ 18 asking ask VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 25 advcl _ _ 19 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 obj _ _ 20 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 18 ccomp _ _ 21 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 20 nsubj _ _ 22 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 cop _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 24 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 25 replied reply VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 26 : : PUNCT : _ 31 punct _ _ 27 “ " PUNCT `` _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 28 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 29 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 31 cop _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 31 sir sir NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 33 that that SCONJ IN _ 36 mark _ _ 34 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 35 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 36 aux _ _ 36 eat eat VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 parataxis _ _ 37 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 38 det _ _ 38 victuals victual NOUN NNS Number=Plur 36 obj _ _ 39 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 40 nsubj _ _ 40 have have VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 38 acl:relcl _ _ 41 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 42 det _ _ 42 salt salt NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obj _ _ 43 in in ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 44 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 36 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 46 ” " PUNCT '' _ 36 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **refuse** | past | the merchant | | | | | | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the merchant *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **have** | past | merchant | a reason | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Patient | | 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund | Ali Baba | | merchant | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | | 5 | **is a** | past | that | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | Baba | | | | | | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | reason | sir | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **eat** *in a quote* | can | Baba | no victuals | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent victual=Patient | | 9 | **have** *in a quote* | present | no victuals | any salt | | | | in victuals *= victual* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent salt=Patient | 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 Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (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 128](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/34/128/) - next →: [sentence 130](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/34/130/) - ↑ back to [The Forty Thieves](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/34/)