--- title: What were the thoughts of the fowl as it said this I cannot tell you… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: What were the thoughts of the fowl as it said this I cannot tell you; but directly our good man saw it, he thought, "Why that's the finest fowl I ever saw in my life; it's finer than our parson's brood hen, upon my word. Who acts: crowd, I, good man, man. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/132/52/) [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/) / [What the Old Man Does Is Always Right](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/132/) / 52 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, What the Old Man Does Is Always Right, sentence 52 What were the thoughts of the fowl as it said this I cannot tell you; but directly our good man saw it, he thought, "Why that's the finest fowl I ever saw in my life; it's finer than our parson's brood hen, upon my word. **Who acts:** crowd, I, good man, man, that, my · **What happens:** be, say, not tell, see, think, word · **To what, where:** thoughts, this, you, crowd, finest fowl, life · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, What the Old Man Does Is Always Right. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (crowd, I, good man, man), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg27200:132:52 # text = What were the thoughts of the fowl as it said this I cannot tell you; but directly our good man saw it, he thought, "Why that's the finest fowl I ever saw in my life; it's finer than our parson's brood hen, upon my word. 1 What what PRON WP PronType=Int 4 nsubj _ _ 2 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 thoughts thought NOUN NNS Number=Plur 0 root _ _ 5 of of ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 fowl fowl NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nmod _ _ 8 as as SCONJ IN _ 10 mark _ _ 9 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 10 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 acl _ _ 11 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 10 obj _ _ 12 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 13 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 15 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 14 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 15 advmod _ _ 15 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 ccomp _ _ 16 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 15 iobj _ SpaceAfter=No 17 ; ; PUNCT : _ 23 punct _ _ 18 but but CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 19 directly directly ADV RB _ 23 advmod _ _ 20 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 22 nmod:poss _ _ 21 good good ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 amod _ _ 22 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 nsubj _ _ 23 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 24 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 26 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 27 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 29 " " PUNCT `` _ 30 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 30 Why why ADV WRB PronType=Int 27 advmod _ _ 31 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 35 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 's be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 35 cop _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 34 finest fine ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 35 amod _ _ 35 fowl fowl NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 ccomp _ _ 36 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 37 ever ever ADV RB PronType=Ind 38 advmod _ _ 38 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 acl:relcl _ _ 39 in in ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 41 nmod:poss _ _ 41 life life NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 ; ; PUNCT : _ 45 punct _ _ 43 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 's be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 45 cop _ _ 45 finer fine ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 27 conj _ _ 46 than than ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 47 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 48 nmod:poss _ _ 48 parson parson NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 49 's 's PART POS _ 48 case _ _ 50 brood brood NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 compound _ _ 51 hen hen NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 52 , , PUNCT , _ 55 punct _ _ 53 upon upon ADP IN _ 55 case _ _ 54 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 55 nmod:poss _ _ 55 word word NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 56 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | past | | the thoughts | | | | of the fowl | tree rules | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | crowd | this | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | can | I | | you | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient | | 4 | **see** | past | our good man | crowd | | | | directly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus | | 5 | **think** *speech: other* | past | man | | | | | | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | that | the finest fowl | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **see** *in a quote* | past | man | the finest fowl *not said here* | | my life | ever | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer fowl=Stimulus | | 8 | **is** *in a quote* | present | crowd | | | | | than our parson's brood hen; upon my word; fine *property* | tree rules | | 9 | **word** *in a quote* | | my | | | | | | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/132/51/) - next →: [sentence 53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/132/53/) - ↑ back to [What the Old Man Does Is Always Right](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/132/)