---
title: And then he began chirping his peculiar melancholy song, from which… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: And then he began chirping his peculiar melancholy song, from which we have taken this history; and which may, very possibly, be all untrue, although it does stand here printed in black and white. Who acts: Grasshopper, we, exterior. A sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Leap
---

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Leap-frog, sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And then he began chirping his peculiar melancholy song, from which we have taken this history; and which may, very possibly, be all untrue, although it does stand here printed in black and white.

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**Who acts:** Grasshopper, we, exterior · **What happens:** begin, chirp, take, be, stand, print · **To what, where:** peculiar melancholy song, history, black

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This is a sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Leap-frog. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Grasshopper, we, exterior), 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:pg1597:16:28
# text = And then he began chirping his peculiar melancholy song, from which we have taken this history; and which may, very possibly, be all untrue, although it does stand here printed in black and white.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	chirping	chirp	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	xcomp	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
7	peculiar	peculiar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
8	melancholy	melancholy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	obl	_	_
13	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
16	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	det	_	_
17	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	28	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
20	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	28	nsubj	_	_
21	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	very	very	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	possibly	possibly	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
26	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	cop	_	_
27	all	all	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	untrue	untrue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	conj	_	_
34	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	33	advmod	_	_
35	printed	print	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	xcomp	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	obl	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
39	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | Grasshopper |  |  |  | then |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **chirp** | gerund | Grasshopper *not said here* | Grasshopper's peculiar melancholy song |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent song=Theme |
| 3 | **take** | present · perfect | we | this history |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent history=Theme from which=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **is** | may |  |  |  |  |  | all, possibly, untrue *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **stand** | present · do-support | exterior |  |  | here |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **print** | participle | exterior *not said here* |  |  | black |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in black=Destination |
| 7 | **sing** |  | Grasshopper |  |  |  |  |  | nom song «communication intransitive»: poss=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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