---
title: That was a house to look at; and there lived an old man, who wore pl… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: That was a house to look at; and there lived an old man, who wore plush breeches; and he had a coat with large brass buttons, and a wig that one could see was a real wig. Who acts: That, old man, man, one. A sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Old House, with its dependency t
---

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Old House, sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That was a house to look at; and there lived an old man, who wore plush breeches; and he had a coat with large brass buttons, and a wig that one could see was a real wig.

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**Who acts:** That, old man, man, one, wig · **What happens:** be, look, live, wear, have, see · **To what, where:** house, old man, plush breeches, coat, wig, real wig

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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 (That, old man, man, one), 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:pg1597:19:9
# text = That was a house to look at; and there lived an old man, who wore plush breeches; and he had a coat with large brass buttons, and a wig that one could see was a real wig.
1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	_
11	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
12	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
17	wore	wear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
18	plush	plush	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	breeches	breech	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	coat	coat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
28	brass	brass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
29	buttons	button	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	wig	wig	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
34	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	37	obj	_	_
35	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nsubj	_	_
36	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	acl:relcl	_	_
38	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	cop	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	wig	wig	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | That | a house |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **look** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **live** | past |  | a old man |  | there |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme man=Location |
| 4 | **wear** | past | a old man | plush breeches |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent breech=Source |
| 5 | **have** | past | man | a coat |  |  |  | with large brass buttons | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent coat=Patient |
| 6 | **see** | could | one | a wig |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer that=Stimulus |
| 7 | **is a** | past | a wig | a real wig |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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