---
title: And when he looked across at the wall where the mortar had fallen ou… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: And when he looked across at the wall where the mortar had fallen out, he could sit and find out there the strangest figures imaginable; exactly as the street had appeared before, with steps, projecting windows, and pointed gables; he could see soldiers with halberds, and spouts where the water ran,
---

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Old House, sentence 8

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And when he looked across at the wall where the mortar had fallen out, he could sit and find out there the strangest figures imaginable; exactly as the street had appeared before, with steps, projecting windows, and pointed gables; he could see soldiers with halberds, and spouts where the water ran, like dragons and serpents.

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**Who acts:** boy, mortar, street, water · **What happens:** look, fall out, sit, find out, appear, project · **To what, where:** spouts, strangest figures, pointed gables, windows, soldiers

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This is a sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Old House. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, mortar, street, water), 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:pg1597:19:8
# text = And when he looked across at the wall where the mortar had fallen out, he could sit and find out there the strangest figures imaginable; exactly as the street had appeared before, with steps, projecting windows, and pointed gables; he could see soldiers with halberds, and spouts where the water ran, like dragons and serpents.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
5	across	across	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	13	advmod	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	mortar	mortar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	fallen	fall	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	acl:relcl	_	_
14	out	out	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
21	out	out	ADP	RP	_	20	compound:prt	_	_
22	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	20	advmod	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	strangest	strange	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	25	amod	_	_
25	figures	figure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
26	imaginable	imaginable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
28	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
29	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	street	street	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
32	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	appeared	appear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	conj	_	_
34	before	before	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	with	with	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
39	projecting	project	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	33	advcl	_	_
40	windows	window	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
43	pointed	pointed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	gables	gable	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	48	punct	_	_
46	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
47	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
49	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	obj	_	_
50	with	with	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	halberds	halberd	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
54	spouts	spout	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	_
55	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	58	advmod	_	_
56	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
57	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nsubj	_	_
58	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
60	like	like	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	dragons	dragon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	58	obl	_	_
62	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	63	cc	_	_
63	serpents	serpent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	61	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | past | boy |  |  |  |  | at the wall; across *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at wall=Theme |
| 2 | **fall out** | past · perfect | the mortar |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **sit** | could | boy | spouts |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **find out** | infinitive | boy *not said here* | the strangest figures |  | there |  | imaginable *property* | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent figure=Topic |
| 5 | **appear** | past · perfect | the street | pointed gables |  |  |  | with steps; before, exactly *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **project** | gerund | the street *not said here* | windows |  |  |  |  | vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Agent window=Value |
| 7 | **see** | could | boy | soldiers |  |  |  | with halberds | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer soldier=Stimulus |
| 8 | **run** | past | the water |  |  |  |  | like dragons and serpents | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=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:** «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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