---
title: But he knew that he would not have known if others were observing hi… — Irish Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But he knew that he would not have known if others were observing him, and that he would not have cared about it if he had known. Who acts: Chief, others. A sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter III, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter III, sentence 40

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But he knew that he would not have known if others were observing him, and that he would not have cared about it if he had known.

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**Who acts:** Chief, others · **What happens:** know, not know, observe, not care · **To what, where:** Chief · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter III. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Chief, others), 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:pg2892:35:40
# text = But he knew that he would not have known if others were observing him, and that he would not have cared about it if he had known.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
8	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	aux	_	_
9	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	ccomp	_	_
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	observing	observe	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
19	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
21	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	aux	_	_
22	cared	care	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
23	about	about	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	_
25	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj:pass	_	_
27	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | Chief |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **not** **know** | would · perfect · passive |  | Chief |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |
| 3 | **observe** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · progressive | others | Chief |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent he=Topic |
| 4 | **not** **care** | would · perfect · passive |  | Chief |  |  |  | about eager | tree rules |
| 5 | **know** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive |  | Chief |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |

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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:** «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Project Gutenberg book 2892 (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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