---
title: If I only could, I would glide up and down the ice there, as I saw t… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If I only could, I would glide up and down the ice there, as I saw the boys doing; but somehow or other, I don’t know how to run.’ Who acts: I, boys. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 5, sentence 78

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If I only could, I would glide up and down the ice there, as I saw the boys doing; but somehow or other, I don’t know how to run.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, boys · **What happens:** glide, see, do, not know, run · **To what, where:** boys

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, boys), 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:pg5615:5:78
# text = If I only could, I would glide up and down the ice there, as I saw the boys doing; but somehow or other, I don’t know how to run.’
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	glide	glide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	advcl	_	_
9	up	up	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	down	down	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
14	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
21	doing	do	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	20	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	somehow	somehow	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
25	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
28	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
31	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
32	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	34	advmod	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	31	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **glide** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | I |  |  |  |  | somehow *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | past | I | the boys |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer boy=Stimulus |
| 3 | **do** | gerund | the boys *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **not** **know** | present · do-support | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **run** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 5615 (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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