---
title: "No," answered the boy; "but there was someone standing on the steps… — Grimm's Fairy Stories · tree and pragmatics
description: "No," answered the boy; "but there was someone standing on the steps who would not give any answer, nor go away, so I took him for a thief and threw him downstairs. Who acts: boy, someone, steps. A sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Oh, If I Could But Shiver!, with its dependency tr
---

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# Grimm's Fairy Stories, Oh, If I Could But Shiver!, sentence 31

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"No," answered the boy; "but there was someone standing on the steps who would not give any answer, nor go away, so I took him for a thief and threw him downstairs.

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**Who acts:** boy, someone, steps · **What happens:** answer, be, stand, not give, go away, take · **To what, where:** answer, boy · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Oh, If I Could But Shiver!. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, someone, steps), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg11027:9:31
# text = "No," answered the boy; "but there was someone standing on the steps who would not give any answer, nor go away, so I took him for a thief and threw him downstairs.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	_
5	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	12	expl	_	_
12	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
13	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	12	nsubj	_	_
14	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	acl	_	_
15	on	on	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
18	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
19	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
21	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	acl:relcl	_	_
22	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	23	det	_	_
23	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	26	cc	_	_
26	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	conj	_	_
27	away	away	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	so	so	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
30	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
32	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	for	for	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	thief	thief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
38	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	_
39	downstairs	downstairs	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | the boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **be** *in a quote* | past | someone |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **stand** *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | on the steps | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on step=Location |
| 4 | **not** **give** *in a quote* | would | the steps | any answer |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent answer=Theme |
| 5 | **go away** *in a quote* | infinitive | the steps *not said here* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **take** *in a quote* | past | the boy *= boy* | boy |  |  |  | for a thief | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent he=Theme for thief=Beneficiary |
| 7 | **throw** *in a quote* | past | the boy *= boy* *not said here* | boy |  |  |  | downstairs *property* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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:** «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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