---
title: I was, as I have said, a boy, and only stood by and listened to what… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: I was, as I have said, a boy, and only stood by and listened to what the others said; but it filled me with a strange emotion to listen to the old man, and to watch how the color rose in his cheeks as he spoke of the days of their courtship, of how beautiful she was, and how many little tricks he ha
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Old Grave-stone, sentence 24

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I was, as I have said, a boy, and only stood by and listened to what the others said; but it filled me with a strange emotion to listen to the old man, and to watch how the color rose in his cheeks as he spoke of the days of their courtship, of how beautiful she was, and how many little tricks he had been guilty of, that he might meet her.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** others, life, color, man, corpse, many little tricks · **What happens:** say, stand by, listen, fill, watch, rise · **To what, where:** I, me, cheeks, corpse · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Old Grave-stone. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (others, life, color, man), 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:pg27200:130:24
# text = I was, as I have said, a boy, and only stood by and listened to what the others said; but it filled me with a strange emotion to listen to the old man, and to watch how the color rose in his cheeks as he spoke of the days of their courtship, of how beautiful she was, and how many little tricks he had been guilty of, that he might meet her.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
4	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	only	only	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	14	obl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	listened	listen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	conj	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	17	obl	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	_
22	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	filled	fill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
27	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	emotion	emotion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	listen	listen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	advcl	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	watch	watch	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	14	parataxis	_	_
42	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	45	advmod	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	color	color	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	_
45	rose	rise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	advcl	_	_
46	in	in	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	nmod:poss	_	_
48	cheeks	cheek	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	obl	_	_
49	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
50	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
51	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	advcl	_	_
52	of	of	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	obl	_	_
55	of	of	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	57	nmod:poss	_	_
57	courtship	courtship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
59	of	of	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	61	advmod	_	_
61	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	conj	_	_
62	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	63	nsubj	_	_
63	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	61	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	73	punct	_	_
65	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	73	cc	_	_
66	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	67	advmod	_	_
67	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	69	amod	_	_
68	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	69	amod	_	_
69	tricks	trick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	73	nsubj	_	_
70	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	73	nsubj	_	_
71	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	73	aux	_	_
72	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	73	cop	_	_
73	guilty	guilty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	parataxis	_	_
74	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	79	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	79	punct	_	_
76	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	79	mark	_	_
77	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	79	nsubj	_	_
78	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	79	aux	_	_
79	meet	meet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	73	advcl	_	_
80	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	79	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
81	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · perfect · passive |  | I |  |  |  | a boy *vocative* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |
| 2 | **stand by** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **listen** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to what=Theme |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the others |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **fill** | past | life | me |  |  |  | with a strange emotion | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent i=Patient with emotion=Instrument |
| 6 | **listen** | to-infinitive | life *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the old man | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to man=Theme |
| 7 | **watch** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **rise** | past | the color |  |  | man's cheeks |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in cheek=Location |
| 9 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | man |  |  |  | day |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **be** | past | corpse |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 11 | **is** | past · perfect | many little tricks |  |  |  |  | guilty *property* | tree rules |
| 12 | **meet** | might | man | corpse |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Co-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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