---
title: ‘“Ah! there is no need to ask how you are,” she said. — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘“Ah! there is no need to ask how you are,” she said. Who acts: head, you. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 33

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‘“Ah! there is no need to ask how you are,” she said.

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**Who acts:** head, you · **What happens:** be, ask, say · **To what, where:** need · **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 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (head, you), 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:pg3454:6:33
# text = ‘“Ah! there is no need to ask how you are,” she said.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	Ah	ah	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
5	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	6	expl	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	8	det	_	_
8	need	need	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	ccomp	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl	_	_
11	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
16	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | no need |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | to-infinitive | head *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **does** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | head |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

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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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