---
title: If you know of nothing better, we will give the commission to the wh… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: If you know of nothing better, we will give the commission to the white gnats; they fly about in rain and sunshine; they know the burdock wood from one end to the other." Who acts: you, we, snails. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Happy Family, with its d
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Happy Family, sentence 41

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If you know of nothing better, we will give the commission to the white gnats; they fly about in rain and sunshine; they know the burdock wood from one end to the other."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, we, snails · **What happens:** know, give, fly · **To what, where:** commission, white gnats, rain, burdock wood, one end

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Happy Family. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, we, snails), 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:pg27200:48:41
# text = If you know of nothing better, we will give the commission to the white gnats; they fly about in rain and sunshine; they know the burdock wood from one end to the other."
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	obl	_	_
6	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
8	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	commission	commission	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	gnats	gnat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	fly	fly	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
20	about	about	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	sunshine	sunshine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	burdock	burdock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	_
30	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
31	from	from	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	33	nummod	_	_
33	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you |  |  |  |  | of nothing | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer of nothing=Stimulus |
| 2 | **give** | future | we | the commission | the white gnats |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent commission=Theme to gnat=Recipient |
| 3 | **fly** | present | snails *= snail* |  |  | rain and sunshine |  | about *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in rain=Location |
| 4 | **know** | present | snails *= snail* | the burdock wood |  |  | from one end to the other |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer wood=Stimulus |

<!-- .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:** «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Project Gutenberg book 27200 (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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