---
title: ‘What is the matter with you?’ said he gently, and, as she only sobb… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘What is the matter with you?’ said he gently, and, as she only sobbed louder, he continued: Who acts: she, master. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 21, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 21, sentence 4

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‘What is the matter with you?’ said he gently, and, as she only sobbed louder, he continued:

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**Who acts:** she, master · **What happens:** be, say, sob, continue · **To what, where:** matter · **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 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (she, master), 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:pg3454:21:4
# text = ‘What is the matter with you?’ said he gently, and, as she only sobbed louder, he continued:
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	ccomp	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	gently	gently	ADV	RB	_	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
16	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	only	only	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	sobbed	sob	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	advcl	_	_
20	louder	loud	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	19	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	continued	continue	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | the matter |  |  |  | with you | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **sob** | past | she |  |  |  |  | loud *property* | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **continue** | past | master |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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