---
title: Amongst other things they spoke of the middle ages: some praised tha… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Amongst other things they spoke of the middle ages: some praised that period as far more interesting, far more poetical than our own too sober present; indeed Councillor Knap defended this opinion so warmly, that the hostess declared immediately on his side, and both exerted themselves with unwearie
---

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shoes of Fortune, part 1, sentence 11

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Amongst other things they spoke of the middle ages: some praised that period as far more interesting, far more poetical than our own too sober present; indeed Councillor Knap defended this opinion so warmly, that the hostess declared immediately on his side, and both exerted themselves with unwearied eloquence.

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**Who acts:** things, some, Councillor, hostess · **What happens:** speak, praise, defend, declare, exert · **To what, where:** period, opinion, side, things · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Shoes of Fortune, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (things, some, Councillor, hostess), 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:pg1597:5:11
# text = Amongst other things they spoke of the middle ages: some praised that period as far more interesting, far more poetical than our own too sober present; indeed Councillor Knap defended this opinion so warmly, that the hostess declared immediately on his side, and both exerted themselves with unwearied eloquence.
1	Amongst	amongst	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	ages	age	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
11	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	12	nsubj	_	_
12	praised	praise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
13	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	14	det	_	_
14	period	period	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	as	as	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	17	advmod	_	_
17	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	18	advmod	_	_
18	interesting	interesting	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	21	advmod	_	_
21	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	22	amod	_	_
22	poetical	poetical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	parataxis	_	_
23	than	than	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
24	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
25	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
26	too	too	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	sober	sober	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	_
30	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	Councillor	Councillor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
32	Knap	Knap	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	flat	_	_
33	defended	defend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
34	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	35	det	_	_
35	opinion	opinion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
36	so	so	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	warmly	warmly	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
39	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	hostess	hostess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
42	declared	declare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	conj	_	_
43	immediately	immediately	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
44	on	on	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
49	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	50	advmod	_	_
50	exerted	exert	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	conj	_	_
51	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	50	obj	_	_
52	with	with	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	unwearied	unwearied	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	eloquence	eloquence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | things *= thing* |  |  |  | of the middle ages | amongst other things | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **praise** | past | some | that period |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent period=Theme |
| 3 | **defend** | past | Councillor | this opinion |  |  |  | warmly *property* | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent opinion=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **declare** *speech: other* | past | the hostess |  |  | hostess's side |  | immediately *property* | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **exert** | past | Councillor *not said here* | things *= thing* |  |  |  | with unwearied eloquence | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme |

<!-- .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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