---
title: I know not why he was so infinitely pathetic, unless it were because… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: I know not why he was so infinitely pathetic, unless it were because he was so pathetically unaware of it; but even strong men had to turn hastily from looking at him, and more than once on summer evenings he had touched the fount of Hook’s tears and made it flow. Who acts: I, sound, whir, strong me
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter XIV. THE PIRATE SHIP, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I know not why he was so infinitely pathetic, unless it were because he was so pathetically unaware of it; but even strong men had to turn hastily from looking at him, and more than once on summer evenings he had touched the fount of Hook’s tears and made it flow.

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**Who acts:** I, sound, whir, strong men, more · **What happens:** not know, be, have, turn, look, touch · **To what, where:** more, fount, whir

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This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XIV. THE PIRATE SHIP. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, sound, whir, strong men), 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:pg16:15:5
# text = I know not why he was so infinitely pathetic, unless it were because he was so pathetically unaware of it; but even strong men had to turn hastily from looking at him, and more than once on summer evenings he had touched the fount of Hook’s tears and made it flow.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	2	advmod	_	_
4	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	infinitely	infinitely	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	pathetic	pathetic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
11	unless	unless	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
13	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
14	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
17	so	so	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
18	pathetically	pathetically	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	unaware	unaware	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
24	even	even	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
25	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nsubj	_	_
27	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	hastily	hastily	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
31	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
32	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	29	advcl	_	_
33	at	at	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	27	obj	_	_
38	than	than	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	37	obl	_	_
40	on	on	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	summer	summer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	compound	_	_
42	evenings	evening	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obl	_	_
43	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
44	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
45	touched	touch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	42	acl:relcl	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	fount	fount	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
49	Hook	Hook	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	51	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	’s	's	PART	POS	_	49	case	_	_
51	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nmod	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
53	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
54	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	obj	_	_
55	flow	flow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **know** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | past | sound |  |  |  |  | infinitely, pathetic *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | whir |  |  |  |  | of machine; pathetically, unaware *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** | past | strong men | more |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **turn** | to-infinitive | more *not said here* |  |  |  |  | hastily *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **look** | gerund | more *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at sound | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at he=Theme |
| 7 | **touch** | past · perfect | sound | the fount of Hook's tears |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme fount=Co-Theme |
| 8 | **make** | past | strong men *not said here* | whir |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **flow** | infinitive | whir *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «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:** «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Project Gutenberg book 16 (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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