---
title: If they kill him, we’re so much the better; if he kills them, we’re… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: If they kill him, we’re so much the better; if he kills them, we’re none the worse.” Who acts: Lads, we, Cookson. A sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XV. “HOOK OR ME THIS TIME”, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/16/108/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Peter Pan](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/) / [Chapter XV. “HOOK OR ME THIS TIME”](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/16/) / 108

# Peter Pan, Chapter XV. “HOOK OR ME THIS TIME”, sentence 108

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If they kill him, we’re so much the better; if he kills them, we’re none the worse.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Lads, we, Cookson · **What happens:** kill, be · **To what, where:** Cookson, Lads, none

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XV. “HOOK OR ME THIS TIME”. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Lads, we, Cookson), 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:pg16:16:108
# text = If they kill him, we’re so much the better; if he kills them, we’re none the worse.”
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	kill	kill	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
6	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	’re	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	much	much	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	kills	kill	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
16	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	’re	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
20	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	19	obj	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	19	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kill** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | Lads *= lad* | Cookson |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 2 | **be** | present | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **kill** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | Cookson | Lads *= lad* |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 4 | **be** | present | we | none |  |  |  |  | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot none=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 107](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/16/107/)
- next →: [sentence 109](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/16/109/)
- ↑ back to [Chapter XV. “HOOK OR ME THIS TIME”](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/16/)