---
title: What do you mean?’ asked the poor man, who was quite bewildered with… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: What do you mean?’ asked the poor man, who was quite bewildered with his sudden rush through the air, and could not think why he should be accused of this fresh crime. Who acts: you, man. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 20, with its dependency tree and
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 20, sentence 16

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What do you mean?’ asked the poor man, who was quite bewildered with his sudden rush through the air, and could not think why he should be accused of this fresh crime.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, man · **What happens:** mean, ask, bewilder, not think, accuse, rush · **To what, where:** poor man, man, air · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, man), 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:pg3454:20:16
# text = What do you mean?’ asked the poor man, who was quite bewildered with his sudden rush through the air, and could not think why he should be accused of this fresh crime.
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
7	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux:pass	_	_
14	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	bewildered	bewilder	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl:relcl	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
18	sudden	sudden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	rush	rush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
20	through	through	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
28	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	32	advmod	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
30	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	aux:pass	_	_
32	accused	accuse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	ccomp	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	36	det	_	_
35	fresh	fresh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	crime	crime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present · do-support | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past |  |  | the poor man |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent man=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **bewilder** | past · passive |  | the poor man |  |  |  | with man's sudden rush through the air | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 4 | **not** **think** *speech: other* | could |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **accuse** | should · passive |  | man |  |  |  | of this fresh crime | vn suspect-81 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Theme of crime=Attribute |
| 6 | **rush** |  | man |  |  | the air |  |  | nom rush «act transitive»: poss=agent through=place |

<!-- .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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