---
title: It is an awkward question, because the fair being does not care a ba… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It is an awkward question, because the fair being does not care a bawbee what I am writing; nor would she be much enlightened if I replied ‘Madam, I am engaged on a treatise intended to prove that Normal is prior to Conceptional Totemism’--though that answer would be as true in fact as obscure in si
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 1, sentence 11

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It is an awkward question, because the fair being does not care a bawbee what I am writing; nor would she be much enlightened if I replied ‘Madam, I am engaged on a treatise intended to prove that Normal is prior to Conceptional Totemism’--though that answer would be as true in fact as obscure in significance.

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**Who acts:** present, I, Normal, answer · **What happens:** be, not be, write, enlighten, reply, engage · **To what, where:** awkward question, bawbee, Andrew, Madam, I, treatise

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (present, I, Normal, answer), 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:pg3454:1:11
# text = It is an awkward question, because the fair being does not care a bawbee what I am writing; nor would she be much enlightened if I replied ‘Madam, I am engaged on a treatise intended to prove that Normal is prior to Conceptional Totemism’--though that answer would be as true in fact as obscure in significance.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	awkward	awkward	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
7	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	advcl	_	_
10	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	cop	_	_
11	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	care	care	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	bawbee	bawbee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	19	obj	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	writing	write	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
21	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	26	cc	_	_
22	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
23	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	aux:pass	_	_
25	much	much	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	enlightened	enlighten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	conj	_	_
27	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
30	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	Madam	madam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux:pass	_	_
35	engaged	engage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
36	on	on	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	treatise	treatise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
39	intended	intend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	38	acl	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	prove	prove	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	advcl	_	_
42	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
43	Normal	Normal	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	_
44	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	45	cop	_	_
45	prior	prior	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP	41	ccomp	_	_
46	to	to	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	Conceptional	Conceptional	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	_
48	Totemism	Totemism	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	47	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	45	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	57	mark	_	_
52	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	53	det	_	_
53	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	nsubj	_	_
54	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	57	aux	_	_
55	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	cop	_	_
56	as	as	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
57	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	conj	_	_
58	in	in	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
59	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obl	_	_
60	as	as	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	obscure	obscure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	nmod	_	_
62	in	in	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
63	significance	significance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | present | a awkward question |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **is** | gerund · do-support |  |  |  |  |  | care *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **write** | present · progressive | I | a bawbee |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Theme |
| 4 | **enlighten** | would · passive |  | Andrew |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 5 | **reply** *speech: assert* *a condition, not said to happen* | past | I | Madam |  |  |  |  | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **engage** | present · passive |  | I |  | a treatise |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 7 | **intend** | participle |  | a treatise *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **prove** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **is** | present | Normal |  | Conceptional |  |  | prior *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **is** | would | that answer |  |  | fact as obscure in significance |  | true *property* | 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:** «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (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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