---
title: But this was scarcely an agreeable entertainment; for thoughts of ol… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: But this was scarcely an agreeable entertainment; for thoughts of olden memories raise the curtains from the past, and sometimes pierce the heart with painful recollections till the agony brings tears to the waking eyes. Who acts: this, agreeable entertainment, agony. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of H
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/128/52/)

<!-- 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/) / 52

# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Old Bachelor's Nightcap, sentence 52

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But this was scarcely an agreeable entertainment; for thoughts of olden memories raise the curtains from the past, and sometimes pierce the heart with painful recollections till the agony brings tears to the waking eyes.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** this, agreeable entertainment, agony · **What happens:** be, raise, pierce, bring, think · **To what, where:** agreeable entertainment, curtains, past, heart, tears, waking eyes

<!-- .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 (this, agreeable entertainment, agony), 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:pg27200:128:52
# text = But this was scarcely an agreeable entertainment; for thoughts of olden memories raise the curtains from the past, and sometimes pierce the heart with painful recollections till the agony brings tears to the waking eyes.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	scarcely	scarcely	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	agreeable	agreeable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	entertainment	entertainment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	thoughts	thought	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	olden	olden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	memories	memory	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	_
14	raise	raise	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	curtains	curtain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
17	from	from	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	past	past	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	23	advmod	_	_
23	pierce	pierce	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	painful	painful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	recollections	recollection	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
29	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	agony	agony	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
32	brings	bring	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	advcl	_	_
33	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	waking	waking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	_
37	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | this | a agreeable entertainment |  |  |  | scarcely *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **raise** | present | a agreeable entertainment | the curtains |  | the past |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent curtain=Theme from past=Destination |
| 3 | **pierce** | infinitive | a agreeable entertainment *not said here* | the heart |  |  |  | with painful recollections; sometimes *property* | vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent heart=Patient with recollection=Instrument |
| 4 | **bring** | present | the agony | tears |  | the waking eyes |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent tear=Theme to eye=Destination |
| 5 | **think** |  |  | olden memories |  |  |  |  | nom thought «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/128/51/)
- next →: [sentence 53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/128/53/)
- ↑ back to [The Old Bachelor's Nightcap](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/128/)