--- title: The impostors requested him very courteously to be so good as to com… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: The impostors requested him very courteously to be so good as to come nearer their looms; and then asked him whether the design pleased him, and whether the colors were not very beautiful; at the same time pointing to the empty frames. Who acts: impostors, colors, same time. A sentence of «Andersen' --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/2/21/) [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 Emperor's New Clothes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/2/) / 21 # Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Emperor's New Clothes, sentence 21 The impostors requested him very courteously to be so good as to come nearer their looms; and then asked him whether the design pleased him, and whether the colors were not very beautiful; at the same time pointing to the empty frames. **Who acts:** impostors, colors, same time · **What happens:** request, be, come, ask, not be, point · **To what, where:** minister, looms, empty frames · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Emperor's New Clothes. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (impostors, colors, same time), 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:pg1597:2:21 # text = The impostors requested him very courteously to be so good as to come nearer their looms; and then asked him whether the design pleased him, and whether the colors were not very beautiful; at the same time pointing to the empty frames. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 impostors impostor NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 nsubj _ _ 3 requested request VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 obj _ _ 5 very very ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _ 6 courteously courteously ADV RB _ 10 advmod _ _ 7 to to PART TO _ 10 mark _ _ 8 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 10 cop _ _ 9 so so ADV RB _ 10 advmod _ _ 10 good good ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 obl _ _ 11 as as SCONJ IN _ 13 mark _ _ 12 to to PART TO _ 13 mark _ _ 13 come come VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 csubj _ _ 14 nearer near ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 13 advmod _ _ 15 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 16 nmod:poss _ _ 16 looms loom NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 17 ; ; PUNCT : _ 20 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 19 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 20 advmod _ _ 20 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 21 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 iobj _ _ 22 whether whether SCONJ IN _ 25 mark _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 design design NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nsubj _ _ 25 pleased pleased ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 ccomp _ _ 26 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 29 whether whether SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 30 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 colors color NOUN NNS Number=Plur 35 nsubj _ _ 32 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 cop _ _ 33 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 35 advmod _ _ 34 very very ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ _ 35 beautiful beautiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 36 ; ; PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 37 at at ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 39 same same ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 amod _ _ 40 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ _ 41 pointing point VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 40 acl _ _ 42 to to ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 44 empty empty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ _ 45 frames frame NOUN NNS Number=Plur 41 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **request** | past | the impostors | | minister | | | | vn beg-58.2 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | | 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | | | | | | courteously, good *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **come** | to-infinitive | | impostors's looms | | | | near *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location loom=Theme | | 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the impostors *not said here* | | minister | | then; time | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | | 5 | **not** **is** | past | the colors | | | | | beautiful *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **point** | gerund | the same time *not said here* | | the empty frames | | | | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to frame=Recipient | 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 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/2/20/) - next →: [sentence 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/2/22/) - ↑ back to [The Emperor's New Clothes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/2/)