---
title: Sometimes he came to one of the windows and looked out; then the lit… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Sometimes he came to one of the windows and looked out; then the little boy nodded to him, and the old man nodded back again, till they became acquainted, and were friends, although they had never spoken to each other; but that was of no consequence. Who acts: man, little boy, old man, windows. A se
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Old House, sentence 21

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Sometimes he came to one of the windows and looked out; then the little boy nodded to him, and the old man nodded back again, till they became acquainted, and were friends, although they had never spoken to each other; but that was of no consequence.

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**Who acts:** man, little boy, old man, windows, that · **What happens:** come, look out, nod, nod back, become, be · **To what, where:** one, man, friends, windows · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Old House. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, little boy, old man, windows), 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:pg27200:131:21
# text = Sometimes he came to one of the windows and looked out; then the little boy nodded to him, and the old man nodded back again, till they became acquainted, and were friends, although they had never spoken to each other; but that was of no consequence.
1	Sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	obl	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	windows	window	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
11	out	out	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	17	advmod	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	nodded	nod	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	nodded	nod	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
26	back	back	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
27	again	again	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
32	acquainted	acquainted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
36	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
38	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
39	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj:pass	_	_
40	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
41	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	42	advmod	_	_
42	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	conj	_	_
43	to	to	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	42	obl	_	_
45	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	52	punct	_	_
47	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
48	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	52	nsubj	_	_
49	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	cop	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	52	det	_	_
52	consequence	consequence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | man |  | one of the windows |  |  | sometimes *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to one=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **look out** | past | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn caring-75.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **nod** | past | the little boy |  | man |  | then |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient |
| 4 | **nod back** | past | the old man |  |  |  | again |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **become** | past | windows *= window* |  |  |  |  | acquainted *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **is a** | past | windows *= window* *not said here* | friends |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* | past · perfect · passive |  | windows *= window* |  |  |  | to each | tree rules |
| 8 | **is** | past | that |  |  |  |  | of no consequence | 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.

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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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