---
title: Would that he could hear us, but we are not really on the island, an… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: Would that he could hear us, but we are not really on the island, and he passes by, biting his knuckles. Who acts: Bell, we. A sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter V. THE ISLAND COME TRUE, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter V. THE ISLAND COME TRUE, sentence 21

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Would that he could hear us, but we are not really on the island, and he passes by, biting his knuckles.

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**Who acts:** Bell, we · **What happens:** hear, not be, pass by, bite · **To what, where:** us, island, knuckles

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This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter V. THE ISLAND COME TRUE. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Bell, we), 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:pg16:6:21
# text = Would that he could hear us, but we are not really on the island, and he passes by, biting his knuckles.
1	Would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
2	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
9	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
10	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
12	really	really	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	passes	pass	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
20	by	by	ADP	IN	_	19	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	biting	bite	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	knuckles	knuckle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | could | Bell | us |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer we=Stimulus |
| 2 | **not** **is** | present | we |  |  | the island |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **pass by** | present | Bell |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **bite** | gerund | Bell *not said here* | Bell's knuckles |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knuckle=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:** «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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