---
title: ‘How I should like to know if you really were so sick at heart that… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘How I should like to know if you really were so sick at heart that you hanged yourself there, or if it is only a hobgoblin that’s before me!’ said the man. Who acts: I, you, youth, man. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master Thief, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Master Thief, sentence 59

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘How I should like to know if you really were so sick at heart that you hanged yourself there, or if it is only a hobgoblin that’s before me!’ said the man.

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**Who acts:** I, you, youth, man · **What happens:** like, know, be, hange, say · **To what, where:** heart, hobgoblin · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master Thief. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, you, youth, man), 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:pg540:9:59
# text = ‘How I should like to know if you really were so sick at heart that you hanged yourself there, or if it is only a hobgoblin that’s before me!’ said the man.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	ccomp	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
9	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
10	really	really	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	ccomp	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
16	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	obj	_	_
17	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	hanged	hange	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
19	yourself	yourself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	18	obj	_	_
20	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	18	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
22	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
23	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
25	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
26	only	only	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	hobgoblin	hobgoblin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	_
29	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	30	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	acl:relcl	_	_
31	before	before	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
35	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	35	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **like** | should | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **know** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** | past | you |  |  | heart |  | sick *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **hange** | past | you | heart |  | there |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | youth | a hobgoblin |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

<!-- .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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