---
title: ‘How did you kill him?’ asked the judge, turning to the accused, and… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘How did you kill him?’ asked the judge, turning to the accused, and the poor man told how he had leaped from the wall, not knowing that anyone was beneath. Who acts: you, poor man, man, anyone. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 20, with its dependency t
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 20, sentence 32

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘How did you kill him?’ asked the judge, turning to the accused, and the poor man told how he had leaped from the wall, not knowing that anyone was beneath.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, poor man, man, anyone · **What happens:** kill, ask, turn, accuse, tell, leap · **To what, where:** man, judge, wall · **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, poor man, man, anyone), 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:pg3454:20:32
# text = ‘How did you kill him?’ asked the judge, turning to the accused, and the poor man told how he had leaped from the wall, not knowing that anyone was beneath.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
9	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	judge	judge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	turning	turn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
14	to	to	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	accused	accuse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
23	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	26	advmod	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	leaped	leap	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	22	ccomp	_	_
27	from	from	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	32	advmod	_	_
32	knowing	know	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	advcl	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
34	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	36	nsubj	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
36	beneath	beneath	ADV	RB	_	32	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kill** | past · do-support | you | man |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past |  | the judge |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent judge=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **turn** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **accuse** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn suspect-81 «NP V PP.theme S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the poor man |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **leap** | past · perfect | man |  |  | the wall |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from wall=Trajectory |
| 7 | **not** **know** | gerund | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 8 | **is** | past | anyone |  |  |  |  | beneath *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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