---
title: Father and mother were asleep; he looked at them, and looked at the… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Father and mother were asleep; he looked at them, and looked at the spinning wheel, and presently a little naked foot peered out of the bed, and then a second foot, and then two little white legs. Who acts: Father, pendulum, little naked foot. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» b
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Twenty-third Evening, sentence 11

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Father and mother were asleep; he looked at them, and looked at the spinning wheel, and presently a little naked foot peered out of the bed, and then a second foot, and then two little white legs.

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**Who acts:** Father, pendulum, little naked foot · **What happens:** be, look, spin, peer · **To what, where:** second foot

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Twenty-third Evening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Father, pendulum, little naked foot), 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:pg27200:114:11
# text = Father and mother were asleep; he looked at them, and looked at the spinning wheel, and presently a little naked foot peered out of the bed, and then a second foot, and then two little white legs.
1	Father	Father	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	spinning	spin	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	amod	_	_
17	wheel	wheel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
20	presently	presently	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
22	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
23	naked	naked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	peered	peer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
26	out	out	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
32	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	35	advmod	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	35	amod	_	_
35	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
38	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	42	advmod	_	_
39	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	42	nummod	_	_
40	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
41	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Father and mother |  |  |  |  | asleep *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **look** | past | pendulum |  |  |  |  | at father | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at they=Theme |
| 3 | **look** | past |  |  |  |  |  | at the spinning wheel | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at wheel=Theme |
| 4 | **spin** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **peer** | past | a little naked foot | a second foot |  |  |  | out the bed; two little white legs *obl*; presently *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent out bed=Theme |

<!-- .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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