---
title: Now, there was an old manor-house, where they no longer ate snails,… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Now, there was an old manor-house, where they no longer ate snails, they were quite extinct; but the burdocks were not extinct, they grew and grew all over the walks and all the beds; they could not get the mastery over them--it was a whole forest of burdocks. Who acts: old manor house, seeds, burdo
---

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Happy Family, sentence 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now, there was an old manor-house, where they no longer ate snails, they were quite extinct; but the burdocks were not extinct, they grew and grew all over the walks and all the beds; they could not get the mastery over them--it was a whole forest of burdocks.

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**Who acts:** old manor house, seeds, burdocks, burdock · **What happens:** be, eat, not be, grow, not get · **To what, where:** snails, walks, mastery, whole forest

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Happy Family. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old manor house, seeds, burdocks, burdock), 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:pg1597:20:4
# text = Now, there was an old manor-house, where they no longer ate snails, they were quite extinct; but the burdocks were not extinct, they grew and grew all over the walks and all the beds; they could not get the mastery over them--it was a whole forest of burdocks.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	4	expl	_	_
4	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
7	manor	manor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	15	advmod	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	no	no	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	15	advmod	_	_
15	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
16	snails	snail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
20	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	extinct	extinct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	28	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	burdocks	burdock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
27	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
28	extinct	extinct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	parataxis	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
34	all	all	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
35	over	over	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	walks	walk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obj	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
39	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	41	det:predet	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	beds	bed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	46	punct	_	_
43	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
44	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
45	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	46	advmod	_	_
46	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	conj	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	mastery	mastery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	_
49	over	over	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
50	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
53	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	56	cop	_	_
54	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
55	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	_
56	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
57	of	of	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
58	burdocks	burdock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a old manor house |  |  | there | now |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **eat** | past | seeds *= seed* | snails |  |  |  | long *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent snail=Patient |
| 3 | **is** | past | seeds *= seed* |  |  |  |  | extinct *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **is** | past | the burdocks |  |  |  |  | extinct *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **grow** | past | seeds *= seed* |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **grow** | past | seeds *= seed* *not said here* | the walks and all beds |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location walk=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **get** | could | seeds *= seed* | the mastery |  |  |  | over snails *= snail* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer mastery=Stimulus |
| 8 | **is a** | past | burdock | a whole forest |  |  |  | of burdocks | 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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