---
title: If you seek a way to die, or if you have not yet seen death, then is… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If you seek a way to die, or if you have not yet seen death, then is to-day the day for you to know what dying is.’ Who acts: you, day. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of a Gazelle, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Story of a Gazelle, sentence 122

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If you seek a way to die, or if you have not yet seen death, then is to-day the day for you to know what dying is.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, day · **What happens:** seek, die, not see, be, know · **To what, where:** way · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of a Gazelle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, day), 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:pg641:15:122
# text = If you seek a way to die, or if you have not yet seen death, then is to-day the day for you to know what dying is.’
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	seek	seek	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	advcl	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
12	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
14	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	amod	_	_
16	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
18	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	advmod	_	_
19	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl:unmarked	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
25	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	acl:relcl	_	_
29	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	30	obj	_	_
30	dying	die	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	28	ccomp	_	_
31	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	’	'	SYM	NFP	_	31	discourse	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seek** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you | a way |  |  |  | seen death *obl* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Theme |
| 2 | **die** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | a way *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 3 | **not** **see** *a condition, not said to happen* | present · perfect | you |  |  |  | yet |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  | to day; then |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **know** | to-infinitive | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **die** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **be** | present | the day |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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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