---
title: How can you be my son," he said, "when I have never had any children?" — Indian Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: How can you be my son," he said, "when I have never had any children?" Who acts: you, King, I. A sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 18, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Indian Fairy Tales, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 18, sentence 134

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How can you be my son," he said, "when I have never had any children?"

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**Who acts:** you, King, I · **What happens:** be, say, not have · **To what, where:** son, children · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, King, I), 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:pg7128:24:134
# text = How can you be my son," he said, "when I have never had any children?"
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
5	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
17	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	ccomp	_	_
18	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	19	det	_	_
19	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	"	"	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** | can | you | my son |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | King |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **have** | present · perfect | I | any children |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=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:** «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7128 (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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