---
title: In general, it means the reddish-brown wood itself; but in jest, it… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: In general, it means the reddish-brown wood itself; but in jest, it signifies “excessively fine,” which arose from an anecdote of Nyboder, in Copenhagen, (the seamen's quarter.) Who acts: mahogany. A sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Shadow, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shadow, sentence 17

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In general, it means the reddish-brown wood itself; but in jest, it signifies “excessively fine,” which arose from an anecdote of Nyboder, in Copenhagen, (the seamen's quarter.)

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**Who acts:** mahogany · **What happens:** mean, signify, arise · **To what, where:** brown wood, anecdote

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This is a sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Shadow. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mahogany), 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:pg1597:23:17
# text = In general, it means the reddish-brown wood itself; but in jest, it signifies “excessively fine,” which arose from an anecdote of Nyboder, in Copenhagen, (the seamen's quarter.)
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	general	general	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
7	reddish	reddish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	brown	brown	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
11	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	10	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	jest	jest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	signifies	signify	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
19	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	excessively	excessively	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	21	punct	_	_
24	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
25	arose	arise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	parataxis	_	_
26	from	from	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	anecdote	anecdote	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	Nyboder	Nyboder	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	Copenhagen	Copenhagen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
35	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	39	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	seamen	seaman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	's	's	PART	POS	_	37	case	_	_
39	quarter	quarter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | mahogany | the brown wood  mahogany |  |  |  | in general | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot wood=Theme in general=Attribute |
| 2 | **signify** | present | mahogany |  |  |  |  | in jest | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot in jest=Attribute |
| 3 | **arise** | past |  |  |  | a anecdote of Nyboder |  | in Copenhagen | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in copenhagen=Location |

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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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