---
title: And if I do know how to do anything it is not what might properly be… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: And if I do know how to do anything it is not what might properly be called a real trade—it is rather a sort of performance; but it is one which no one—not the king himself—must watch me doing, and I doubt whether this performance of mine would please your Majesty.” Who acts: I, handicraft, me, perf
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 4, sentence 118

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And if I do know how to do anything it is not what might properly be called a real trade—it is rather a sort of performance; but it is one which no one—not the king himself—must watch me doing, and I doubt whether this performance of mine would please your Majesty.”

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**Who acts:** I, handicraft, me, performance · **What happens:** know, do, not be, call, be, watch · **To what, where:** anything, real trade, sort, one, me, Majesty · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, handicraft, me, performance), 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:pg2435:4:118
# text = And if I do know how to do anything it is not what might properly be called a real trade—it is rather a sort of performance; but it is one which no one—not the king himself—must watch me doing, and I doubt whether this performance of mine would please your Majesty.”
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	_
9	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	8	obj	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	conj	_	_
14	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
15	properly	properly	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	acl:relcl	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	trade	trade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
23	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
24	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	sort	sort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	advcl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	performance	performance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	36	punct	_	_
30	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
33	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	36	nummod	_	_
34	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	36	det	_	_
35	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	36	det	_	_
36	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	40	advmod	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	appos	_	_
41	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	40	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	44	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
44	watch	watch	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	36	parataxis	_	_
45	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	44	obj	_	_
46	doing	do	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	44	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
49	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
50	doubt	doubt	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	44	conj	_	_
51	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	57	mark	_	_
52	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	53	det	_	_
53	performance	performance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	nsubj	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	mine	my	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	53	nmod	_	_
56	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	57	aux	_	_
57	please	please	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	ccomp	_	_
58	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	59	nmod:poss	_	_
59	Majesty	majesty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present · do-support | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive |  | anything |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Eventuality |
| 3 | **not** **is a** | present | handicraft |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **call** | might · passive |  | a real trade |  |  |  | properly *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V» |
| 5 | **is a** | present | handicraft | a sort |  |  |  | of performance | tree rules |
| 6 | **is a** | present | handicraft | one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **watch** | must |  | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **do** | gerund | me *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **doubt** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 10 | **please** | would | this performance of mine | your Majesty |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus majesty=Experiencer |
| 11 | **perform** |  |  | mine |  |  |  |  | nom performance «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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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