---
title: We have seen the portraits of our great-grandfathers dressed in this… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: We have seen the portraits of our great-grandfathers dressed in this way; but the "pepper gentlemen" had no money to spare to have their portraits taken, though one of them would have made a very interesting picture for us now, if taken as he appeared standing behind his counter, or going to church,
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Old Bachelor's Nightcap, sentence 25

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
We have seen the portraits of our great-grandfathers dressed in this way; but the "pepper gentlemen" had no money to spare to have their portraits taken, though one of them would have made a very interesting picture for us now, if taken as he appeared standing behind his counter, or going to church, or on holidays.

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**Who acts:** We, pepper gentlemen, portraits, ginger, gentlemen · **What happens:** see, dress, have, spare, take, make · **To what, where:** portraits, great grandfathers, way, money, one, counter

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Old Bachelor's Nightcap. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (We, pepper gentlemen, portraits, ginger), 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:pg27200:128:25
# text = We have seen the portraits of our great-grandfathers dressed in this way; but the "pepper gentlemen" had no money to spare to have their portraits taken, though one of them would have made a very interesting picture for us now, if taken as he appeared standing behind his counter, or going to church, or on holidays.
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	portraits	portrait	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
8	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	grandfathers	grandfather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
11	dressed	dress	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	14	det	_	_
14	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
18	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	pepper	pepper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	_
20	gentlemen	gentleman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	20	punct	_	_
22	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
23	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	24	det	_	_
24	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	spare	spare	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	acl	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	portraits	portrait	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
31	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
33	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
34	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	39	nsubj:pass	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nmod	_	_
37	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
38	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	aux	_	_
39	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	conj	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
41	very	very	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
42	interesting	interesting	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	picture	picture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	_
44	for	for	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	43	nmod	_	_
46	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	39	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
48	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
49	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	39	conj	_	_
50	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	52	mark	_	_
51	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
52	appeared	appear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	advcl	_	_
53	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	52	xcomp	_	_
54	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
56	counter	counter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
58	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	59	cc	_	_
59	going	go	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	53	conj	_	_
60	to	to	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	church	church	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	65	punct	_	_
63	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	65	cc	_	_
64	on	on	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
65	holidays	holiday	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | present · perfect | We | the portraits of our great grandfathers |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer portrait=Stimulus |
| 2 | **dress** | participle |  | our great grandfathers *not said here* |  | this way |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **have** | past | the pepper gentlemen | no money |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent money=Patient |
| 4 | **spare** | to-infinitive | the pepper gentlemen *not said here* | no money *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **have** | to-infinitive | the pepper gentlemen *not said here* | gentlemen's portraits |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **take** | participle | gentlemen's portraits *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **make** | would · perfect · passive |  | one of gentlemen |  |  | now |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP NP PP.asset»: subject=Beneficiary picture=Product for we=Asset |
| 8 | **take** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **appear** | past | ginger |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 10 | **stand** | gerund | ginger *not said here* |  |  | ginger's counter |  | on holidays | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent behind counter=Location |
| 11 | **go** | gerund | ginger *not said here* |  |  | church |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to church=Initial\_Location |
| 12 | **portray** |  |  | our great grandfathers |  |  |  |  | nom portrait «communication transitive»: of=patient |
| 13 | **portray** |  | gentlemen *= gentleman* |  |  |  |  |  | nom portrait «communication transitive»: 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:** «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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