---
title: “Why should I not look at the Sister of the Sun?” he thought to hims… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “Why should I not look at the Sister of the Sun?” he thought to himself; “she is asleep, and will never know.” Who acts: boy, sun. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 23, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 23, sentence 30

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“Why should I not look at the Sister of the Sun?” he thought to himself; “she is asleep, and will never know.”

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**Who acts:** boy, sun · **What happens:** not look, think, be, not know · **To what, where:** boy · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 23. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, sun), 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:pg3282:23:30
# text = “Why should I not look at the Sister of the Sun?” he thought to himself; “she is asleep, and will never know.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
3	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	look	look	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Sister	Sister	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
26	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
28	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **look** *in a quote* | should | boy |  |  |  |  | at the Sister of the Sun | tree rules |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | boy |  | boy |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | sun |  |  |  |  | asleep *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **know** *in a quote* | future | boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

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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 Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (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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