---
title: They generally stuck a table-knife and spoon in their girdles, as we… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: They generally stuck a table-knife and spoon in their girdles, as well as a larger knife, as a protection to themselves; and such a weapon was often very necessary. Who acts: clerks, weapon. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Old Bachelor's Nightcap, with i
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/128/28/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/) / [The Old Bachelor's Nightcap](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/128/) / 28

# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Old Bachelor's Nightcap, sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They generally stuck a table-knife and spoon in their girdles, as well as a larger knife, as a protection to themselves; and such a weapon was often very necessary.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** clerks, weapon · **What happens:** stick, be · **To what, where:** table knife, girdles

<!-- .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 (clerks, weapon), 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:pg27200:128:28
# text = They generally stuck a table-knife and spoon in their girdles, as well as a larger knife, as a protection to themselves; and such a weapon was often very necessary.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	generally	generally	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	stuck	stick	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	spoon	spoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	girdles	girdle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	19	cc	_	_
15	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	14	fixed	_	_
16	as	as	ADP	IN	_	14	fixed	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	larger	large	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	19	amod	_	_
19	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	as	as	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	protection	protection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	appos	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
28	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	30	det:predet	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	weapon	weapon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
32	often	often	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
33	very	very	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	necessary	necessary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stick** | past | clerks *= clerk* | a table knife and spoon |  | clerks's girdles |  | a larger knife *obl*; generally *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent knife=Theme in girdle=Destination |
| 2 | **is** | past | such weapon |  |  |  |  | necessary, often *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/128/27/)
- next →: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/128/29/)
- ↑ back to [The Old Bachelor's Nightcap](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/128/)