---
title: "Ah, father," said Hansel, "I am looking at my white cat sitting upo… — Grimm's Fairy Stories · tree and pragmatics
description: "Ah, father," said Hansel, "I am looking at my white cat sitting upon the roof of the house, and trying to say good-bye." " Who acts: father. A sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Hansel and Grethel, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Grimm's Fairy Stories, Hansel and Grethel, sentence 22

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Ah, father," said Hansel, "I am looking at my white cat sitting upon the roof of the house, and trying to say good-bye." "

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** father · **What happens:** say, look, sit, try · **To what, where:** roof, good bye · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Hansel and Grethel. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father), 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:pg11027:8:22
# text = "Ah, father," said Hansel, "I am looking at my white cat sitting upon the roof of the house, and trying to say good-bye." "
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Ah	ah	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	Hansel	Hansel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
10	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
16	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
18	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	conj	_	_
19	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	roof	roof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	conj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	bye	bye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	27	punct	_	_
35	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | father |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **look** *in a quote* | present · progressive | father |  |  |  |  | at my white cat | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at cat=Theme |
| 3 | **sit** *in a quote* | gerund | father *not said here* |  |  | the roof of the house |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon roof=Location |
| 4 | **try** *in a quote* | gerund | father *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | father *not said here* | good bye |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent bye=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:** «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 11027 (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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