---
title: The German beer was very good, and there were many sorts--from Breme… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The German beer was very good, and there were many sorts--from Bremen, Prussia, and Brunswick--and quantities of all sorts of spices, saffron, aniseed, ginger, and especially pepper; indeed, pepper was almost the chief article sold here; so it happened at last that the German clerks in Denmark got t
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Old Bachelor's Nightcap, sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The German beer was very good, and there were many sorts--from Bremen, Prussia, and Brunswick--and quantities of all sorts of spices, saffron, aniseed, ginger, and especially pepper; indeed, pepper was almost the chief article sold here; so it happened at last that the German clerks in Denmark got their nickname of "pepper gentry."

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**Who acts:** German beer, many sorts, pepper, it, German clerks, clerks · **What happens:** be, sell, happen, get, sort, nickname · **To what, where:** chief article, last, nickname, spices, pepper gentry

<!-- .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 (German beer, many sorts, pepper, it), 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:pg27200:128:9
# text = The German beer was very good, and there were many sorts--from Bremen, Prussia, and Brunswick--and quantities of all sorts of spices, saffron, aniseed, ginger, and especially pepper; indeed, pepper was almost the chief article sold here; so it happened at last that the German clerks in Denmark got their nickname of "pepper gentry."
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	German	German	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	beer	beer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	10	expl	_	_
10	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
11	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	sorts	sort	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	Bremen	Bremen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	Prussia	Prussia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	Brunswick	Brunswick	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	quantities	quantity	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	conj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	26	det	_	_
26	sorts	sort	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nmod	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	spices	spice	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
30	saffron	saffron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
32	aniseed	aniseed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
34	ginger	ginger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	especially	especially	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	pepper	pepper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	47	punct	_	_
40	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
42	pepper	pepper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
43	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	_
44	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
46	chief	chief	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	article	article	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	parataxis	_	_
48	sold	sell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	47	acl	_	_
49	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	48	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	53	punct	_	_
51	so	so	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
52	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
53	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
54	at	at	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	obl	_	_
56	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	62	mark	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
58	German	German	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	amod	_	_
59	clerks	clerk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	62	nsubj	_	_
60	in	in	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	Denmark	Denmark	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	59	nmod	_	_
62	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	advcl	_	_
63	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	64	nmod:poss	_	_
64	nickname	nickname	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	obj	_	_
65	of	of	ADP	IN	_	68	case	_	_
66	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	68	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	pepper	pepper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	68	compound	_	_
68	gentry	gentry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
69	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the German beer |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** | past | many sorts from Bremen and Prussia and Brunswick and quantities of all sorts of spices and saffron and aniseed and ginger and pepper |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** | past | pepper | the chief article |  |  |  | almost, indeed *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **sell** | participle |  | the chief article *not said here* |  | here |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **happen** | past | it |  |  | last |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at last=Location |
| 6 | **get** | past | the German clerks in Denmark | clerks's nickname of pepper gentry |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer nickname=Stimulus |
| 7 | **sort** |  |  | spices |  |  |  |  | nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 8 | **nickname** |  | clerks *= clerk* | pepper gentry |  |  |  |  | nom nickname «communication transitive»: poss=agent 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.

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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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