---
title: If there had been only himself, he would have managed to get on some… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If there had been only himself, he would have managed to get on somehow, but he could not bear to watch his children becoming weaker day by day, and swallowing his pride, at length he crossed the mountains to his old home where his brother was living. Who acts: son, children, brother. A sentence of 
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 19, sentence 42

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If there had been only himself, he would have managed to get on somehow, but he could not bear to watch his children becoming weaker day by day, and swallowing his pride, at length he crossed the mountains to his old home where his brother was living.

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**Who acts:** son, children, brother · **What happens:** be, manage, get, not bear, watch, become · **To what, where:** son, children, pride, mountains, old home, length

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 19. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (son, children, brother), 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:pg3454:19:42
# text = If there had been only himself, he would have managed to get on somehow, but he could not bear to watch his children becoming weaker day by day, and swallowing his pride, at length he crossed the mountains to his old home where his brother was living.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	4	expl	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	been	be	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	aux	_	_
11	managed	manage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	somehow	somehow	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
21	bear	bear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	parataxis	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	watch	watch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
26	becoming	become	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	25	acl	_	_
27	weaker	weak	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	28	amod	_	_
28	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl:unmarked	_	_
29	by	by	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	swallowing	swallow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	conj	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	pride	pride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
37	at	at	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	crossed	cross	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obj	_	_
43	to	to	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
45	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	_
47	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	51	advmod	_	_
48	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
49	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	nsubj	_	_
50	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	aux	_	_
51	living	live	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	46	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | son *not said here* | son |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **manage** | would · perfect | son |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **get** | to-infinitive | son *not said here* |  |  |  |  | somehow *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **not** **bear** | could | son |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **watch** | to-infinitive | son *not said here* | son's children |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Theme |
| 6 | **become** | gerund | son's children *not said here* |  |  |  | day |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **swallow** | gerund | son *not said here* | son's pride |  |  |  |  | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pride=Patient |
| 8 | **cross** | past | son | the mountains | son's old home | length |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent mountain=Patient to home=Recipient |
| 9 | **live** | past · progressive | son's brother |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 10 | **pride** |  | son |  |  |  |  |  | nom pride «feeling transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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