---
title: ‘If I had only known who it was,’ she said, ‘I would have done my be… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘If I had only known who it was,’ she said, ‘I would have done my best to make friends with her; now I suppose all is lost.’ Who acts: I, sulphur, Queen. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Princess Mayblossom, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Princess Mayblossom, part 1, sentence 16

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘If I had only known who it was,’ she said, ‘I would have done my best to make friends with her; now I suppose all is lost.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, sulphur, Queen · **What happens:** know, be, say, do, make, suppose · **To what, where:** best, friends, all · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Princess Mayblossom, 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 (I, sulphur, Queen), 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:pg540:3:16
# text = ‘If I had only known who it was,’ she said, ‘I would have done my best to make friends with her; now I suppose all is lost.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	ccomp	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	aux	_	_
19	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	ccomp	_	_
20	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	19	obj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
24	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	30	advmod	_	_
29	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	suppose	suppose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	ccomp	_	_
31	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
32	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	13	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 · perfect | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is a** | past | sulphur |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Queen |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **do** | would · perfect | I | my best |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent good=Eventuality |
| 5 | **make** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | friends |  |  |  | with Queen | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset friend=Product |
| 6 | **suppose** | present | I |  |  |  | now |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 7 | **lose** | present · passive |  | all |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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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