--- title: The old minister listened attentively to their words, in order that… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: The old minister listened attentively to their words, in order that he might repeat them to the Emperor; and then the knaves asked for more silk and gold, saying that it was necessary to complete what they had begun. Who acts: old minister, minister, knaves, impostors. A sentence of «Andersen's Fair --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/2/34/) [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/) / 34 # Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Emperor's New Clothes, sentence 34 The old minister listened attentively to their words, in order that he might repeat them to the Emperor; and then the knaves asked for more silk and gold, saying that it was necessary to complete what they had begun. **Who acts:** old minister, minister, knaves, impostors · **What happens:** listen, repeat, ask, say, be, complete · **To what, where:** order, impostors, Emperor · **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 (old minister, minister, knaves, impostors), 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:pg1597:2:34 # text = The old minister listened attentively to their words, in order that he might repeat them to the Emperor; and then the knaves asked for more silk and gold, saying that it was necessary to complete what they had begun. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 minister minister NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 listened listen VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 attentively attentively ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 6 to to ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 8 nmod:poss _ _ 8 words word NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 10 in in ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 11 order order NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ _ 12 that that SCONJ IN _ 15 mark _ _ 13 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 14 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 15 aux _ _ 15 repeat repeat VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 11 acl _ _ 16 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 obj _ _ 17 to to ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 Emperor Emperor PROPN NNP Number=Sing 15 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 ; ; PUNCT : _ 25 punct _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 22 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 25 advmod _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 knaves knave NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 nsubj _ _ 25 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 26 for for ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 28 amod _ _ 28 silk silk NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obl _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 30 gold gold NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 32 saying say VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 25 advcl _ _ 33 that that SCONJ IN _ 36 mark _ _ 34 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 expl _ _ 35 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 cop _ _ 36 necessary necessary ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 ccomp _ _ 37 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 38 complete complete VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 csubj _ _ 39 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 42 obj _ _ 40 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 nsubj _ _ 41 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 42 aux _ _ 42 begun begin VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 38 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **listen** | past | the old minister | | | order | | to impostors's words; attentively *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to word=Theme | | 2 | **repeat** | might | minister | impostors *= impostor* | the Emperor | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Topic to emperor=Recipient | | 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the knaves | | | | then | for more silk and gold | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the knaves *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **is** | past | | | | | | necessary *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **complete** | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn complete-55.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 7 | **begin** | past · perfect | impostors *= impostor* | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality | | 8 | **word** | | impostors *= impostor* | | | | | | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent | 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 33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/2/33/) - next →: [sentence 35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/2/35/) - ↑ back to [The Emperor's New Clothes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/2/)