---
title: He knows that the children would like it well, and he would gladly g… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He knows that the children would like it well, and he would gladly give it to them; but about the taste of fond anxious mothers and kind aunts he is not quite so certain. Who acts: book, children. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 1, with its dependency 
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 1, sentence 56

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He knows that the children would like it well, and he would gladly give it to them; but about the taste of fond anxious mothers and kind aunts he is not quite so certain.

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**Who acts:** book, children · **What happens:** know, like, give, not be, taste · **To what, where:** Harding, children, fond anxious mothers

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (book, children), 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:pg3454:1:56
# text = He knows that the children would like it well, and he would gladly give it to them; but about the taste of fond anxious mothers and kind aunts he is not quite so certain.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
6	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	gladly	gladly	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
21	about	about	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	taste	taste	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	fond	fond	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
26	anxious	anxious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	mothers	mother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nmod	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	aunts	aunt	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	conj	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
32	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
33	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	36	advmod	_	_
34	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
35	so	so	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | book |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **like** | would | the children | Harding |  |  |  | well *property* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot it=Theme |
| 3 | **give** | would | book | Harding | children *= child* |  |  | gladly *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Theme to they=Recipient |
| 4 | **not** **is** | present | book |  |  |  |  | about the taste of fond anxious mothers and kind aunts; certain *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **taste** |  |  | fond anxious mothers and kind aunts |  |  |  |  | nom taste «cognition 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 Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (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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