---
title: There was a handsome young man once," thought he; "it is certainly a… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: There was a handsome young man once," thought he; "it is certainly a long while ago, but I remember he had a little note, written on pink paper with a gold edge; the writing was elegant, evidently a lady's hand: twice he read it through, and kissed it, and then looked up at me, with eyes that said q
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Old Street Lamp, sentence 20

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There was a handsome young man once," thought he; "it is certainly a long while ago, but I remember he had a little note, written on pink paper with a gold edge; the writing was elegant, evidently a lady's hand: twice he read it through, and kissed it, and then looked up at me, with eyes that said quite plainly, 'I am the happiest of men!'

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**Who acts:** handsome young man, light, I, man, writing, eyes · **What happens:** be, think, remember, have, write, read · **To what, where:** man, little note, pink paper, light · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Old Street Lamp. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (handsome young man, light, I, 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:pg27200:133:20
# text = There was a handsome young man once," thought he; "it is certainly a long while ago, but I remember he had a little note, written on pink paper with a gold edge; the writing was elegant, evidently a lady's hand: twice he read it through, and kissed it, and then looked up at me, with eyes that said quite plainly, 'I am the happiest of men!'
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	handsome	handsome	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
7	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	_
10	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
13	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
16	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	while	while	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl:unmarked	_	_
20	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	remember	remember	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	ccomp	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	note	note	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
31	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	acl	_	_
32	on	on	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	pink	pink	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	paper	paper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
35	with	with	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	_
38	edge	edge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
42	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	cop	_	_
43	elegant	elegant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
45	evidently	evidently	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	's	's	PART	POS	_	47	case	_	_
49	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	53	punct	_	_
51	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	53	advmod	_	_
52	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
53	read	read	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	parataxis	_	_
54	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	obj	_	_
55	through	through	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
58	kissed	kiss	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	conj	_	_
59	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	63	punct	_	_
61	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	63	cc	_	_
62	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	63	advmod	_	_
63	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	conj	_	_
64	up	up	ADP	RP	_	63	compound:prt	_	_
65	at	at	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
66	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	63	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	69	punct	_	_
68	with	with	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
69	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	63	obl	_	_
70	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	71	nsubj	_	_
71	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	69	acl:relcl	_	_
72	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	73	advmod	_	_
73	plainly	plainly	ADV	RB	_	71	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	79	punct	_	_
75	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	79	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
76	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	79	nsubj	_	_
77	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	79	cop	_	_
78	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	79	det	_	_
79	happiest	happy	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	63	advcl	_	_
80	of	of	ADP	IN	_	81	case	_	_
81	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	79	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
82	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	43	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
83	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	43	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a handsome young man |  |  | there |  | once *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* *in a quote* | past |  | man |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot he=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | present | light |  |  |  | while | ago, certainly *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **remember** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **have** | past | man | a little note |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent note=Patient |
| 6 | **write** | participle |  | a little note *not said here* |  | pink paper with a gold edge |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent on paper=Destination |
| 7 | **is** | past | the writing |  |  |  |  | elegant *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **read** | past | man | light |  |  |  | through, twice *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic |
| 9 | **kiss** | past | man *not said here* | light |  |  |  |  | vn marry-36.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Co-Agent |
| 10 | **look up** | past | man *not said here* |  |  |  | then | at me; with eyes | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at i=Theme |
| 11 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | eyes |  |  |  |  | plainly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 12 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | of men; happy *property* | 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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