---
title: But Hansel used to stretch out a bone, and the old woman, having ver… — Grimm's Fairy Stories · tree and pragmatics
description: But Hansel used to stretch out a bone, and the old woman, having very bad sight, thought it was his finger, and wondered very much that he did not get fatter. Who acts: you, sight, Grethel. A sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Hansel and Grethel, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# Grimm's Fairy Stories, Hansel and Grethel, sentence 79

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But Hansel used to stretch out a bone, and the old woman, having very bad sight, thought it was his finger, and wondered very much that he did not get fatter.

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**Who acts:** you, sight, Grethel · **What happens:** hansel, use, stretch out, have, think, be · **To what, where:** bone, bad sight, finger · **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 (you, sight, 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:pg11027:8:79
# text = But Hansel used to stretch out a bone, and the old woman, having very bad sight, thought it was his finger, and wondered very much that he did not get fatter.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	2	cc	_	_
2	Hansel	hansel	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	xcomp	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	stretch	stretch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	bone	bone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
16	very	very	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	finger	finger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	wondered	wonder	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	parataxis	_	_
28	very	very	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	much	much	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
32	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
33	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
34	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	advcl	_	_
35	fatter	fat	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	34	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hansel** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | the old woman *vocative* | tree rules |
| 2 | **use** | participle | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **stretch out** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | a bone |  |  |  |  | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent bone=Patient |
| 4 | **have** | gerund | you *not said here* | bad sight |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sight=Patient |
| 5 | **think** *speech: other* | past | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is a** | past | sight | Grethel's finger |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 8 | **not** **get** | past · do-support | Grethel |  |  |  |  | fat *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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