---
title: There he was to sit and watch where they went to dance; and, in orde… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: There he was to sit and watch where they went to dance; and, in order that nothing might pass without his hearing it, the door of his chamber was left open. Who acts: son, princesses, nothing. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, with its dependency tree
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, sentence 6

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There he was to sit and watch where they went to dance; and, in order that nothing might pass without his hearing it, the door of his chamber was left open.

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**Who acts:** son, princesses, nothing · **What happens:** be, watch, go, dance, pass, leave · **To what, where:** hearing, order, door

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (son, princesses, nothing), 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:pg2591:10:6
# text = There he was to sit and watch where they went to dance; and, in order that nothing might pass without his hearing it, the door of his chamber was left open.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	5	expl	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	watch	watch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
8	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	10	advmod	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	dance	dance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
19	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	21	nsubj	_	_
20	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
22	without	without	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	hearing	hearing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	chamber	chamber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	parataxis	_	_
34	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | son |  |  | there |  | sit *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **watch** | infinitive | son *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **go** | past | princesses *= princess* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **dance** | to-infinitive | princesses *= princess* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **pass** | might | nothing | hearing |  | order |  | without son's hearing | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent it=Theme in order=Destination |
| 6 | **leave** | past · passive |  | the door of son's chamber |  |  |  | open *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 7 | **hear** |  | son |  |  |  |  |  | nom hearing «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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:** «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 2591 (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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