---
title: The learned man was not at all in the most enviable state; grief and… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The learned man was not at all in the most enviable state; grief and torment followed him, and what he said about the true, and the good, and the beautiful, was, to most persons, like roses for a cow! Who acts: learned man, man. A sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Shadow, w
---

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shadow, sentence 179

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The learned man was not at all in the most enviable state; grief and torment followed him, and what he said about the true, and the good, and the beautiful, was, to most persons, like roses for a cow!

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**Who acts:** learned man, man · **What happens:** learn, follow, say, be · **To what, where:** thing · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (learned man, man), 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:pg1597:23:179
# text = The learned man was not at all in the most enviable state; grief and torment followed him, and what he said about the true, and the good, and the beautiful, was, to most persons, like roses for a cow!
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	learned	learn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	nmod	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
10	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	11	advmod	_	_
11	enviable	enviable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	state	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
14	grief	grief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	torment	torment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	_
17	followed	follow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	17	parataxis	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
24	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
38	to	to	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	40	amod	_	_
40	persons	person	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	like	like	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	roses	rose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	conj	_	_
44	for	for	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **follow** | past | the learned man at all | thing |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | to most persons and roses for a cow | 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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