---
title: 'Have you, my son; and what was he like?' asked the mother, as she t… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'Have you, my son; and what was he like?' asked the mother, as she took off the child's sheepskin coat and shook it on the doorstep. Who acts: you, bundle, mother. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 35, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 35, sentence 63

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'Have you, my son; and what was he like?' asked the mother, as she took off the child's sheepskin coat and shook it on the doorstep.

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**Who acts:** you, bundle, mother · **What happens:** have, be, ask, take off, shake · **To what, where:** mother, sheepskin coat, coat, doorstep · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 35. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, bundle, mother), 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:pg3027:35:63
# text = 'Have you, my son; and what was he like?' asked the mother, as she took off the child's sheepskin coat and shook it on the doorstep.
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	ccomp	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	12	obj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
15	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	parataxis	_	_
22	off	off	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	's	's	PART	POS	_	24	case	_	_
26	sheepskin	sheepskin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	coat	coat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	shook	shake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	on	on	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	doorstep	doorstep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | bundle |  |  |  |  | like *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past |  |  | the mother |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent mother=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **take off** | past | mother | the child's sheepskin coat |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent coat=Theme |
| 5 | **shake** | past | mother *not said here* | coat |  | the doorstep |  |  | vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent it=Theme on doorstep=Trajectory |

<!-- .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 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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