---
title: ‘What news is there of my sister?’ asked the young man, with whom th… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘What news is there of my sister?’ asked the young man, with whom things had gone badly, for he was idle. Who acts: sister, things, news. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 20, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 20, sentence 60

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‘What news is there of my sister?’ asked the young man, with whom things had gone badly, for he was idle.

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**Who acts:** sister, things, news · **What happens:** be, ask, go · **To what, where:** young man

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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 (sister, things, news), 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:pg3454:20:60
# text = ‘What news is there of my sister?’ asked the young man, with whom things had gone badly, for he was idle.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
3	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	4	expl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
11	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	20	obl	_	_
18	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nsubj	_	_
19	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	parataxis	_	_
21	badly	badly	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
26	idle	idle	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | of my sister | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | my sister |  | the young man |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent man=Recipient |
| 3 | **go** | past · perfect | things |  |  |  |  | badly *property* | vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent with whom=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **is** | past | news |  |  |  |  | idle *property* | tree rules |

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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 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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