---
title: The king asked him what he was reading; and he said he was reading a… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The king asked him what he was reading; and he said he was reading about Paradise, and praying that he might be worthy to enter there. Who acts: king. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 3, sentence 23

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The king asked him what he was reading; and he said he was reading about Paradise, and praying that he might be worthy to enter there.

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**Who acts:** king · **What happens:** ask, read, say, pray, be, enter · **To what, where:** fakeer · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king), 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:pg3027:3:23
# text = The king asked him what he was reading; and he said he was reading about Paradise, and praying that he might be worthy to enter there.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	iobj	_	_
5	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	8	obj	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	reading	read	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	reading	read	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	ccomp	_	_
16	about	about	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	Paradise	Paradise	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	praying	pray	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	conj	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
23	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
24	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	cop	_	_
25	worthy	worthy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	ccomp	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	enter	enter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the king |  | fakeer |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **read** | past · progressive | King |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | King |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **read** | past · progressive | King |  |  |  |  | about Paradise | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about paradise=Topic |
| 5 | **pray** | gerund | King *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 6 | **is** | might | King |  |  |  |  | worthy *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **enter** | to-infinitive | King *not said here* |  |  | there |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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 Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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