---
title: If he had possessed a slender well-shaped figure, he might have been… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: If he had possessed a slender well-shaped figure, he might have been the first tragedian on any stage; the heroic, the great, filled his soul; and yet he had to become a Pulcinella. Who acts: public. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Fifteenth Evening, with it
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Fifteenth Evening, sentence 8

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If he had possessed a slender well-shaped figure, he might have been the first tragedian on any stage; the heroic, the great, filled his soul; and yet he had to become a Pulcinella.

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**Who acts:** public · **What happens:** possess, shape, be, fill, have, become · **To what, where:** public, first tragedian, stage, soul, Pulcinella

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Fifteenth Evening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (public), 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:pg27200:106:8
# text = If he had possessed a slender well-shaped figure, he might have been the first tragedian on any stage; the heroic, the great, filled his soul; and yet he had to become a Pulcinella.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	possessed	possess	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	advcl	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
6	slender	slender	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
7	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	shaped	shape	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	amod	_	_
10	figure	figure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
13	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
14	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	aux	_	_
15	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	18	cop	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	18	amod	_	_
18	tragedian	tragedian	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
19	on	on	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	21	det	_	_
21	stage	stage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	heroic	heroic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	filled	fill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	parataxis	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	soul	soul	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	36	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
34	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	conj	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	xcomp	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	Pulcinella	Pulcinella	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive |  | public |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **shape** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 3 | **is a** | might · perfect | public | the first tragedian |  | any stage |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | public *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **fill** | past |  | public's soul |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent soul=Patient |
| 6 | **have** | past | public |  |  |  | yet |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **become** | to-infinitive | public *not said here* | a Pulcinella |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Patient pulcinella=Result |

<!-- .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:** «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Project Gutenberg book 27200 (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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