---
title: The Caliphess and her children were always much entertained by this… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The Caliphess and her children were always much entertained by this performance; but when the Caliph went on nodding and bowing, and calling ‘Mu...mu...’ too long, the Vizier would threaten laughingly to tell the Chaliphess the subject of the discussion carried on one night outside the door of Princ
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Story of Caliph Stork, sentence 190

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Caliphess and her children were always much entertained by this performance; but when the Caliph went on nodding and bowing, and calling ‘Mu...mu...’ too long, the Vizier would threaten laughingly to tell the Chaliphess the subject of the discussion carried on one night outside the door of Princess Screech Owl.

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**Who acts:** performance, Caliph, Vizier, subject · **What happens:** entertain, go, call, threaten, tell, carry · **To what, where:** Caliphess, nodding, Mu, subject, Chaliphess · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Caliph Stork. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (performance, Caliph, Vizier, subject), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg7277:7:190
# text = The Caliphess and her children were always much entertained by this performance; but when the Caliph went on nodding and bowing, and calling ‘Mu...mu...’ too long, the Vizier would threaten laughingly to tell the Chaliphess the subject of the discussion carried on one night outside the door of Princess Screech Owl.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Caliphess	Caliphess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
4	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	conj	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
7	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	8	advmod	_	_
8	much	much	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	entertained	entertain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
12	performance	performance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
15	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	18	advmod	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	Caliph	Caliph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	advcl	_	_
19	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	nodding	nodding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	bowing	bowing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	calling	call	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
26	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	Mu	mu	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	...	...	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	mu	mu	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	...	...	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
32	too	too	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	18	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	Vizier	Vizier	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
37	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	threaten	threaten	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
39	laughingly	laughingly	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	advcl	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	Chaliphess	Chaliphess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	discussion	discussion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
49	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	acl:relcl	_	_
50	on	on	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	52	nummod	_	_
52	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
53	outside	outside	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
56	of	of	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
57	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	59	compound	_	_
58	Screech	Screech	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	59	compound	_	_
59	Owl	Owl	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	55	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **entertain** | past · passive | this performance | the Caliphess and wife's children |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **go** | past | the Caliph |  |  | nodding and bowing |  | long *property* | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on nodding=Location |
| 3 | **call** | gerund | the Caliph *not said here* | Mu and mu |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent mu=Recipient |
| 4 | **threaten** | would | the Vizier |  |  |  |  | laughingly *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | the Vizier *not said here* | the subject | the Chaliphess |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent chaliphess=Recipient subject=Topic |
| 6 | **carry** | past | the subject *not said here* |  |  |  | night | of the discussion; outside the door of Princess Screech Owl | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent of discussion=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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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