---
title: ‘What can have become of her?’ asked they, and at length the mother… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘What can have become of her?’ asked they, and at length the mother declared that she would wait no longer, and must go and see what had happened. Who acts: others, mother. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 36, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 36, sentence 25

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘What can have become of her?’ asked they, and at length the mother declared that she would wait no longer, and must go and see what had happened.

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**Who acts:** others, mother · **What happens:** become, ask, declare, wait, go, see · **To what, where:** length · **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 36. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (others, mother), 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:pg3454:36:25
# text = ‘What can have become of her?’ asked they, and at length the mother declared that she would wait no longer, and must go and see what had happened.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	xcomp	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
5	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	parataxis	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
10	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	declared	declare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
23	no	no	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	go	go	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	see	see	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	_
31	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	33	nsubj	_	_
32	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	30	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | can · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | of woman | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | others *= other* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **declare** *speech: other* | past | the mother |  |  | length |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **wait** | would | mother |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **go** | must |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **see** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 7 | **happen** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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