---
title: But I will know the truth,’ he said; ‘if the two others are still ha… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But I will know the truth,’ he said; ‘if the two others are still hanging there it is true but if they are not it’s nothing else but witchcraft.’ Who acts: I, man, two others, truth. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master Thief, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Master Thief, sentence 65

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But I will know the truth,’ he said; ‘if the two others are still hanging there it is true but if they are not it’s nothing else but witchcraft.’

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**Who acts:** I, man, two others, truth · **What happens:** know, say, hang, be · **To what, where:** truth · **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, man, two others, truth), 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:pg540:9:65
# text = But I will know the truth,’ he said; ‘if the two others are still hanging there it is true but if they are not it’s nothing else but witchcraft.’
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
12	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nummod	_	_
16	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
17	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	still	still	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	hanging	hang	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	ccomp	_	_
20	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	19	advmod	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	ccomp	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
25	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
27	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
31	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	30	obj	_	_
32	else	else	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
33	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	witchcraft	witchcraft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | future | I | the truth |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer truth=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **hang** *a condition, not said to happen* | present · progressive | the two others |  |  | there | still |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | present | truth |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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