---
title: ‘Ah, father,’ said Hansel, ‘I am looking at my little white cat, whi… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘Ah, father,’ said Hansel, ‘I am looking at my little white cat, which is sitting up on the roof, and wants to say goodbye to me.’ Who acts: father, I, little white cat. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Hansel and Gretel, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, Hansel and Gretel, sentence 25

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘Ah, father,’ said Hansel, ‘I am looking at my little white cat, which is sitting up on the roof, and wants to say goodbye to me.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** father, I, little white cat · **What happens:** say, look, sit up, want · **To what, where:** roof, goodbye, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Hansel and Gretel. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father, I, little white cat), 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:pg2591:20:25
# text = ‘Ah, father,’ said Hansel, ‘I am looking at my little white cat, which is sitting up on the roof, and wants to say goodbye to me.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Ah	ah	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	Hansel	Hansel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
15	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
16	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
17	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	acl	_	_
23	up	up	ADP	RP	_	22	compound:prt	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	roof	roof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	wants	want	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
32	goodbye	goodbye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	29	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | father |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **look** | present · progressive | I |  |  |  |  | at my little white cat | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at cat=Theme |
| 3 | **sit up** | present · progressive | my little white cat |  |  | the roof |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on roof=Location |
| 4 | **want** | present | father *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | father *not said here* | goodbye | me |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent goodbye=Topic to i=Recipient |

<!-- .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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