---
title: “That was no fairy tale, 'tis true,” said old Nanny; “but now it's c… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “That was no fairy tale, 'tis true,” said old Nanny; “but now it's coming. Who acts: That, fairy tale, thing. A sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Elderbush, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Elderbush, sentence 85

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“That was no fairy tale, 'tis true,” said old Nanny; “but now it's coming.

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**Who acts:** That, fairy tale, thing · **What happens:** be, say, come · **To what, where:** fairy tale · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (That, fairy tale, thing), 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:pg1597:17:85
# text = “That was no fairy tale, 'tis true,” said old Nanny; “but now it's coming.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
5	fairy	fairy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	tis	tis	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
10	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	Nanny	Nanny	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
17	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	advmod	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | That | no fairy tale and tis |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | no fairy tale and tis |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **come** *in a quote* | present · progressive | thing |  |  |  | now |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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