--- title: Just at that moment the merry old man came in who lived up a-top of… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Just at that moment the merry old man came in who lived up a-top of the house all alone; for he had neither wife nor children--but he liked children very much, and knew so many fairy tales, that it was quite delightful. Who acts: merry old man, man, top. A sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/17/4/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Andersen's Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/) / [The Elderbush](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/17/) / 4 # Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Elderbush, sentence 4 Just at that moment the merry old man came in who lived up a-top of the house all alone; for he had neither wife nor children--but he liked children very much, and knew so many fairy tales, that it was quite delightful. **Who acts:** merry old man, man, top · **What happens:** come, live up, have, like, know, be · **To what, where:** top, wife, children, many fairy tales This is a sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Elderbush. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (merry old man, man, top), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg1597:17:4 # text = Just at that moment the merry old man came in who lived up a-top of the house all alone; for he had neither wife nor children--but he liked children very much, and knew so many fairy tales, that it was quite delightful. 1 Just just ADV RB _ 9 advmod _ _ 2 at at ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 3 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 4 det _ _ 4 moment moment NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 6 merry merry ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 amod _ _ 7 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 amod _ _ 8 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nsubj _ _ 9 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 10 in in SCONJ IN _ 12 mark _ _ 11 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 12 nsubj _ _ 12 lived live VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 advcl _ _ 13 up up ADP RP _ 12 compound:prt _ _ 14 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 16 det _ SpaceAfter=No 15 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 14 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 16 top top NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obj _ _ 17 of of ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 house house NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nmod _ _ 20 all all ADV RB _ 21 advmod _ _ 21 alone alone ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 22 ; ; PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 23 for for ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 25 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 26 neither neither CCONJ CC Polarity=Neg 27 cc:preconj _ _ 27 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obj _ _ 28 nor nor CCONJ CC Polarity=Neg 29 cc _ _ 29 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 30 -- -- PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 31 but but CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 32 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 33 liked like VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 34 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 obj _ _ 35 very very ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ _ 36 much much ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 39 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 parataxis _ _ 40 so so ADV RB _ 41 advmod _ _ 41 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 42 fairy fairy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 43 tales tale NOUN NNS Number=Plur 39 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ _ 45 that that SCONJ IN _ 49 mark _ _ 46 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 49 nsubj _ _ 47 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 49 cop _ _ 48 quite quite ADV RB _ 49 advmod _ _ 49 delightful delightful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 50 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **come** | past | the merry old man | | | | moment | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **live up** | past | | a top of the house | | | | alone *property* | vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme top=Location | | 3 | **have** | past | man | wife nor children | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Patient | | 4 | **like** | past | man | children | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot child=Theme | | 5 | **know** | past | | many fairy tales | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer tale=Stimulus | | 6 | **is** | past | top | | | | | delightful *property* | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/17/3/) - next →: [sentence 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/17/5/) - ↑ back to [The Elderbush](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/17/)