---
title: So Hansel reached up and broke a piece off the roof, in order to see… — Grimm's Fairy Stories · tree and pragmatics
description: So Hansel reached up and broke a piece off the roof, in order to see how it tasted, while Grethel stepped up to the window and began to bite it. Who acts: Hansel, piece, Grethel. A sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Hansel and Grethel, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of 
---

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# Grimm's Fairy Stories, Hansel and Grethel, sentence 63

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So Hansel reached up and broke a piece off the roof, in order to see how it tasted, while Grethel stepped up to the window and began to bite it.

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**Who acts:** Hansel, piece, Grethel · **What happens:** reach up, break, see, taste, step up, begin · **To what, where:** piece, window · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Hansel, piece, Grethel), 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:pg11027:8:63
# text = So Hansel reached up and broke a piece off the roof, in order to see how it tasted, while Grethel stepped up to the window and began to bite it.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	Hansel	Hansel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	up	up	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	off	off	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	roof	roof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	in	in	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	16	mark	_	_
14	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	fixed	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	see	see	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
17	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	tasted	taste	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	Grethel	Grethel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	stepped	step	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
24	up	up	ADP	RP	_	23	compound:prt	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	bite	bite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reach up** | past | Hansel |  |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **break** | past | Hansel *not said here* | a piece |  |  |  | off the roof | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent piece=Patient off roof=Co-Patient |
| 3 | **see** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **taste** | past | piece |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 5 | **step up** | past | Grethel |  |  | the window |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to window=Destination |
| 6 | **begin** | past | Grethel *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **bite** | to-infinitive | Grethel *not said here* | piece |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

<!-- .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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