---
title: It was always property, my old woman said; and here she would see a… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: It was always property, my old woman said; and here she would see a great deal of property--a whole sackful; I should like to show them to her." Who acts: tree, old woman, woman, I. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, What the Old Man Does Is Always Right, with 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, What the Old Man Does Is Always Right, sentence 68

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was always property, my old woman said; and here she would see a great deal of property--a whole sackful; I should like to show them to her."

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**Who acts:** tree, old woman, woman, I · **What happens:** be, say, see, like, show, deal · **To what, where:** property, great deal, apples, woman · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (tree, old woman, woman, I), 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:pg27200:132:68
# text = It was always property, my old woman said; and here she would see a great deal of property--a whole sackful; I should like to show them to her."
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	property	property	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
12	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	_
13	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	deal	deal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	property	property	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	sackful	sackful	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
31	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | tree | property |  |  |  | always *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | my old woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **see** | would | woman | a great deal of property and a whole sackful |  | here |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer deal=Stimulus |
| 4 | **like** | should | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **show** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | apples *= apple* | woman |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Topic to she=Recipient |
| 6 | **deal** |  |  | property |  |  |  |  | nom deal «act 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.

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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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