---
title: ‘But what sort of a tree is it, and how did it get here?’ he asked o… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘But what sort of a tree is it, and how did it get here?’ he asked of the attendants he had with him. Who acts: sort, king. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 22, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 22, sentence 99

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘But what sort of a tree is it, and how did it get here?’ he asked of the attendants he had with him.

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**Who acts:** sort, king · **What happens:** be, get, ask, have, sort · **To what, where:** sort, attendants, tree · **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 22. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sort, king), 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:pg3454:22:99
# text = ‘But what sort of a tree is it, and how did it get here?’ he asked of the attendants he had with him.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
3	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	4	det	_	_
4	sort	sort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
12	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
13	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	ccomp	_	_
16	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	attendants	attendant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | what sort of a tree | sort |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **get** | past · do-support | sort |  |  | here |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | king |  |  |  |  | of the attendants | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V PP.recipient how S»: agent=Agent of attendant=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **have** | past | king | the attendants *not said here* |  |  |  | with cock | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent attendant=Patient |
| 5 | **sort** |  |  | a tree |  |  |  |  | nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

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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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