---
title: “Would to Heaven I had got my head through!” said he, involuntarily;… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “Would to Heaven I had got my head through!” said he, involuntarily; and instantly through it slipped, easily and without pain, notwithstanding it was pretty large and thick. Who acts: man, head. A sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Shoes of Fortune, part 3, with its depende
---

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shoes of Fortune, part 3, sentence 23

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“Would to Heaven I had got my head through!” said he, involuntarily; and instantly through it slipped, easily and without pain, notwithstanding it was pretty large and thick.

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**Who acts:** man, head · **What happens:** get, say, slip, notwithstand, be · **To what, where:** head, Heaven · **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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, head), 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:pg1597:7:23
# text = “Would to Heaven I had got my head through!” said he, involuntarily; and instantly through it slipped, easily and without pain, notwithstanding it was pretty large and thick.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Heaven	Heaven	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	ccomp	_	_
8	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	through	through	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	involuntarily	involuntarily	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	instantly	instantly	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
20	through	through	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	slipped	slip	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
26	without	without	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	pain	pain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	notwithstanding	notwithstand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
32	pretty	pretty	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	ccomp	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** *in a quote* | would · perfect | man | my head | Heaven |  |  | through *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer head=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: express* | past | man |  |  |  |  | involuntarily *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **slip** | past | head |  |  |  |  | easily, instantly *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **notwithstand** | gerund | head *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | past | head |  |  |  |  | large, pretty *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **be** |  | head *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | 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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