---
title: It was not really a happy question to ask him; it was like an examin… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: It was not really a happy question to ask him; it was like an examination paper that asks grammar, when what you want to be asked is Kings of England. Who acts: face, examination paper, you, grammar. A sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter III. COME AWAY, COME AWAY!, with its dependency t
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter III. COME AWAY, COME AWAY!, sentence 95

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was not really a happy question to ask him; it was like an examination paper that asks grammar, when what you want to be asked is Kings of England.

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**Who acts:** face, examination paper, you, grammar · **What happens:** not be, ask, be, want · **To what, where:** happy question, Peter, grammar, Kings

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This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter III. COME AWAY, COME AWAY!. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (face, examination paper, you, grammar), 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:pg16:4:95
# text = It was not really a happy question to ask him; it was like an examination paper that asks grammar, when what you want to be asked is Kings of England.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
4	really	really	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	acl	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
14	like	like	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	examination	examination	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	paper	paper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	_
18	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj	_	_
19	asks	ask	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
20	grammar	grammar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
22	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	30	advmod	_	_
23	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	30	nsubj	_	_
24	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
27	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	aux:pass	_	_
28	asked	ask	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	xcomp	_	_
29	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
30	Kings	king	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	England	England	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** | past | face | a happy question |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive |  |  | Peter |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** | past | face |  |  |  |  | like a examination paper | tree rules |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | a examination paper | grammar and Kings |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent grammar=Recipient |
| 5 | **want** | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive · passive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V» |
| 7 | **is a** | present | grammar and Kings | Kings |  |  |  | of England | tree rules |

<!-- .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:** «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Project Gutenberg book 16 (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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