---
title: But often, when he had got half way back, he would fancy the iron sh… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: But often, when he had got half way back, he would fancy the iron shutters of the door were not properly fastened, and his thin legs would carry him down again. Who acts: coal, thin legs. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Old Bachelor's Nightcap, with its 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Old Bachelor's Nightcap, sentence 49

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But often, when he had got half way back, he would fancy the iron shutters of the door were not properly fastened, and his thin legs would carry him down again.

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**Who acts:** coal, thin legs · **What happens:** get, fancy, not fasten, carry down · **To what, where:** iron shutters, coal

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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 (coal, thin legs), 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:pg27200:128:49
# text = But often, when he had got half way back, he would fancy the iron shutters of the door were not properly fastened, and his thin legs would carry him down again.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
2	often	often	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
8	half	half	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	9	amod	_	_
9	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl:unmarked	_	_
10	back	back	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	fancy	fancy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	parataxis	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	shutters	shutter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux:pass	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
23	properly	properly	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	fastened	fasten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
28	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nsubj	_	_
30	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	parataxis	_	_
32	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	down	down	ADP	RP	_	31	compound:prt	_	_
34	again	again	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past · perfect | coal |  |  |  |  | often *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **fancy** | would | coal |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **not** **fasten** | past · passive |  | the iron shutters of the door |  |  |  | properly *property* | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 4 | **carry down** | would | coal's thin legs | coal |  |  | again |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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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