---
title: If they seem to droop, you will know we are ill, and if they fall do… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If they seem to droop, you will know we are ill, and if they fall down and fade away, it will be a sign we are dead.’ Who acts: children, you, we, world. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Golden Lads, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Golden Lads, sentence 47

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If they seem to droop, you will know we are ill, and if they fall down and fade away, it will be a sign we are dead.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** children, you, we, world · **What happens:** seem, droop, know, be, fall down, fade away · **To what, where:** sign · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Golden Lads. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (children, you, we, world), 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:pg7277:49:47
# text = If they seem to droop, you will know we are ill, and if they fall down and fade away, it will be a sign we are dead.’
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	seem	seem	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	droop	droop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
7	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
10	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
15	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	fall	fall	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	_
18	down	down	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	fade	fade	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
21	away	away	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
24	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
25	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	cop	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	parataxis	_	_
28	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
30	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | children *= child* |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **droop** | to-infinitive | children *= child* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **know** | future | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is** | present | we |  |  |  |  | ill *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **fall down** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **fade away** | present | children *= child* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **is a** | future | world | a sign |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **is** | present | we | a sign *not said here* |  |  |  | dead *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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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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