---
title: The copying-clerk turned round and spoke awhile with the man about t… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The copying-clerk turned round and spoke awhile with the man about the reports and legal documents in question; but when he had finished, and his eye fell again on the Shoes, he was unable to say whether those to the left or those to the right belonged to him. Who acts: copying clerk, Clerk, eye, le
---

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shoes of Fortune, part 4, sentence 10

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The copying-clerk turned round and spoke awhile with the man about the reports and legal documents in question; but when he had finished, and his eye fell again on the Shoes, he was unable to say whether those to the left or those to the right belonged to him.

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**Who acts:** copying clerk, Clerk, eye, left · **What happens:** turn round, speak, finish, fall, be, say · **To what, where:** copying clerk, Shoes, those, left, Clerk · **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 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (copying clerk, Clerk, eye, left), 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:pg1597:8:10
# text = The copying-clerk turned round and spoke awhile with the man about the reports and legal documents in question; but when he had finished, and his eye fell again on the Shoes, he was unable to say whether those to the left or those to the right belonged to him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	copying	copying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	clerk	clerk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	turned	turn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	round	round	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
8	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	awhile	awhile	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	about	about	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	reports	report	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	legal	legal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	documents	document	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
23	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	26	advmod	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	finished	finish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	eye	eye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
31	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
32	again	again	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
33	on	on	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	Shoes	shoe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
37	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
39	unable	unable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	conj	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	xcomp	_	_
42	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
43	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	41	obl	_	_
44	to	to	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	left	left	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
47	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
48	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	52	nsubj	_	_
49	to	to	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	right	right	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	_
52	belonged	belong	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	acl:relcl	_	_
53	to	to	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn round** | participle |  | the copying clerk *not said here* |  |  |  | round *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | the copying clerk |  |  |  |  | with the man about the reports and legal documents in question; awhile *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with man=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **finish** | past · perfect | Clerk |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 4 | **fall** | past | Clerk's eye |  |  | the Shoes | again |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on shoe=Location |
| 5 | **is** | past | eye |  |  |  |  | unable *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | eye *not said here* | those | the left |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to left=Recipient |
| 7 | **belong** | past | the left | the left *not said here* | Clerk |  |  |  | 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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