---
title: If I only knew that there were not more than two I should not mind,… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If I only knew that there were not more than two I should not mind, for them I should take one in each hand and give them a good shaking, like Susanna once shook me.’ Who acts: I, two, Susanna. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 8, with its dependency tre
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 6

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If I only knew that there were not more than two I should not mind, for them I should take one in each hand and give them a good shaking, like Susanna once shook me.’

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**Who acts:** I, two, Susanna · **What happens:** know, be, not mind, take, give, shake · **To what, where:** one, hand, good shaking, them, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, two, Susanna), 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:pg3454:8:6
# text = If I only knew that there were not more than two I should not mind, for them I should take one in each hand and give them a good shaking, like Susanna once shook me.’
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	7	expl	_	_
7	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
9	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp|ExtPos=ADV	11	advmod	_	_
10	than	than	ADP	IN	_	9	fixed	_	_
11	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nsubj	_	_
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	mind	mind	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
22	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	obj	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	25	det	_	_
25	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	conj	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	iobj	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	shaking	shaking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
34	Susanna	Susanna	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
35	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	36	advmod	_	_
36	shook	shake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
37	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	15	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* | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **be** | past |  |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **mind** | should | two |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **take** | should | I | one |  | each hand |  | for them *= they* | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent one=Value in hand=Location |
| 5 | **give** | infinitive | I *not said here* | a good shaking | them *= they* |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient shaking=Theme |
| 6 | **shake** | past | Susanna | me |  |  |  | once *property* | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent i=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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