---
title: Then he asked the Queen, who was dressed like a maid, ‘How do you kn… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he asked the Queen, who was dressed like a maid, ‘How do you know in the dark of night whether the hours are wearing near the dawn?’ Who acts: King, you, hours. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Sigurd, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Story of Sigurd, sentence 19

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then he asked the Queen, who was dressed like a maid, ‘How do you know in the dark of night whether the hours are wearing near the dawn?’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** King, you, hours · **What happens:** ask, dress, know, wear · **To what, where:** Queen, dark

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Sigurd. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, you, hours), 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:pg540:51:19
# text = Then he asked the Queen, who was dressed like a maid, ‘How do you know in the dark of night whether the hours are wearing near the dawn?’
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	dressed	dress	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
10	like	like	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	maid	maid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	18	advmod	_	_
16	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	dark	dark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
24	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj	_	_
27	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	wearing	wear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
29	near	near	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	dawn	dawn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | King |  | the Queen |  | then |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent queen=Recipient |
| 2 | **dress** | past · passive |  | the Queen |  |  |  | like a maid | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 3 | **know** | present · do-support | you |  |  | the dark of night |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **wear** | present · progressive | the hours |  |  |  | dawn |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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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