---
title: _--Thackeray's reference to the "Arabian Nights" is especially apt,… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: _--Thackeray's reference to the "Arabian Nights" is especially apt, as the tale of Conall is a framework story like _The 1001 Nights_, the three stories told by Conall being framed, as it were, in a fourth which is nominally the real story. Who acts: Arabian Nights, _, story, fourth. A sentence of «
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, V. Conal Yellowclaw., sentence 16

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\_--Thackeray's reference to the "Arabian Nights" is especially apt, as the tale of Conall is a framework story like \_The 1001 Nights\_, the three stories told by Conall being framed, as it were, in a fourth which is nominally the real story.

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**Who acts:** Arabian Nights, \_, story, fourth, Thackeray, Conall · **What happens:** be, tell, frame, refer · **To what, where:** framework story, three stories, fourth, real story · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, V. Conal Yellowclaw.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Arabian Nights, \_, story, fourth), 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:pg7885:39:16
# text = _--Thackeray's reference to the "Arabian Nights" is especially apt, as the tale of Conall is a framework story like _The 1001 Nights_, the three stories told by Conall being framed, as it were, in a fourth which is nominally the real story.
1	_	_	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	Thackeray	Thackeray	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	reference	reference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	_
6	to	to	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	Arabian	Arabian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	Nights	night	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	especially	especially	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	apt	apt	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	as	as	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	appos	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	Conall	Conall	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	framework	framework	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	compound	_	_
24	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
25	like	like	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
26	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	1001	1001	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	29	nummod	_	_
29	Nights	Night	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	34	nummod	_	_
34	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nmod	_	_
35	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	34	acl	_	_
36	by	by	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	Conall	Conall	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	obl:agent	_	_
38	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	39	aux:pass	_	_
39	framed	frame	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	35	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
41	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
42	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
43	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	in	in	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	fourth	fourth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	parataxis	_	_
48	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	53	nsubj	_	_
49	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	53	cop	_	_
50	nominally	nominally	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
52	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
53	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Arabian Nights |  |  |  |  | apt, especially *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | present | \_ | a framework story |  |  | like the 1001 Nights | the three stories *nmod* | tree rules |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | participle |  | the three stories *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **frame** | gerund · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination» |
| 5 | **is** | past | story |  |  | a fourth |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **is a** | present | a fourth | the real story |  |  |  | nominally *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **refer** |  | Thackeray |  |  |  |  |  | nom reference «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 8 | **tell** |  | Conall |  |  |  |  |  | nom tale «communication 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:** «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7885 (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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