---
title: And if his grandmother told them stories, he always interrupted her;… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: And if his grandmother told them stories, he always interrupted her; besides, if he could manage it, he would get behind her, put on her spectacles, and imitate her way of speaking; he copied all her ways, and then everybody laughed at him. Who acts: grandmother, sun, way, everybody. A sentence of «
---

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen, part 1, sentence 77

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And if his grandmother told them stories, he always interrupted her; besides, if he could manage it, he would get behind her, put on her spectacles, and imitate her way of speaking; he copied all her ways, and then everybody laughed at him.

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**Who acts:** grandmother, sun, way, everybody · **What happens:** tell, interrupt, manage, get, put, imitate · **To what, where:** stories, beasts, grandmother, STORY, spectacles, way · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Snow Queen, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (grandmother, sun, way, everybody), 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:pg1597:11:77
# text = And if his grandmother told them stories, he always interrupted her; besides, if he could manage it, he would get behind her, put on her spectacles, and imitate her way of speaking; he copied all her ways, and then everybody laughed at him.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
2	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	grandmother	grandmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	iobj	_	_
7	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	11	advmod	_	_
11	interrupted	interrupt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
14	besides	besides	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
16	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	manage	manage	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	parataxis	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	parataxis	_	_
25	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
28	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
29	on	on	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	spectacles	spectacle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	imitate	imitate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
35	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
37	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
38	speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	36	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	copied	copy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
42	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	44	det:predet	_	_
43	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	ways	way	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
47	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	49	advmod	_	_
48	everybody	everybody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	49	nsubj	_	_
49	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	conj	_	_
50	at	at	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* *a condition, not said to happen* | past | sun's grandmother | stories | beasts *= beast* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient story=Topic |
| 2 | **interrupt** | past | sun | grandmother |  |  |  | always *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **manage** *a condition, not said to happen* | could | sun | STORY |  |  |  | besides *property* | vn caring-75.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 4 | **get** | would | sun |  |  |  |  | behind grandmother | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **put** | past | sun *not said here* |  |  | grandmother's spectacles |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent on spectacle=Destination |
| 6 | **imitate** | infinitive | sun *not said here* | grandmother's way |  |  |  |  | vn patent-101 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Theme |
| 7 | **speak** *speech: other* | gerund | grandmother's way *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **copy** | past | sun | grandmother's ways |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Theme |
| 9 | **laugh** | past | everybody |  |  |  | then | at sun | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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:** «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, Project Gutenberg book 1597 (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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