---
title: ‘What do you mean?’ asked the shark; but the monkey, who now underst… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘What do you mean?’ asked the shark; but the monkey, who now understood the whole plot, did not answer at once, for he was considering what he should say. Who acts: you, monkey, man. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 5, with its dependency tree and the p
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/5/59/)

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 5, sentence 59

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘What do you mean?’ asked the shark; but the monkey, who now understood the whole plot, did not answer at once, for he was considering what he should say.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, monkey, man · **What happens:** mean, ask, understand, not answer, consider, say · **To what, where:** shark, whole plot · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, monkey, man), 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:pg3454:5:59
# text = ‘What do you mean?’ asked the shark; but the monkey, who now understood the whole plot, did not answer at once, for he was considering what he should say.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
3	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
8	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	shark	shark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	monkey	monkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
17	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	18	advmod	_	_
18	understood	understand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	plot	plot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
24	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
25	answer	answer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
26	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	considering	consider	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	_
33	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	36	obj	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
35	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present · do-support | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | you *not said here* | the shark |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent shark=Recipient |
| 3 | **understand** | past | the monkey | the whole plot |  |  | now |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer plot=Stimulus |
| 4 | **not** **answer** *speech: assert* | past · do-support | the monkey *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **consider** | past · progressive | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-1-1 «NP V whether/if S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | should | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

<!-- .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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