---
title: "I can almost imagine I am seeing it all," she said; and then how th… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: "I can almost imagine I am seeing it all," she said; and then how the lamp wished for a wax taper to be lighted in him, for then the old woman would have seen the smallest detail as clearly as he did himself. Who acts: Africa, lamp, man. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Old Street Lamp, sentence 97

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"I can almost imagine I am seeing it all," she said; and then how the lamp wished for a wax taper to be lighted in him, for then the old woman would have seen the smallest detail as clearly as he did himself.

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**Who acts:** Africa, lamp, man · **What happens:** imagine, see, say, wish, light, do · **To what, where:** forest, old woman, man · **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 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 (Africa, lamp, man), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg27200:133:97
# text = "I can almost imagine I am seeing it all," she said; and then how the lamp wished for a wax taper to be lighted in him, for then the old woman would have seen the smallest detail as clearly as he did himself.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	imagine	imagine	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	ccomp	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	_
13	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
17	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	advmod	_	_
18	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	21	advmod	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	lamp	lamp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	ccomp	_	_
22	for	for	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	wax	wax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	taper	taper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
27	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	aux:pass	_	_
28	lighted	light	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	advcl	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
32	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
33	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	39	advmod	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj:pass	_	_
37	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
38	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	aux	_	_
39	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	conj	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	smallest	small	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	42	amod	_	_
42	detail	detail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	_
43	as	as	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
44	clearly	clearly	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
45	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
46	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	advcl	_	_
48	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	47	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **imagine** *in a quote* | can | Africa |  |  |  |  | almost *property* | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **see** *in a quote* | present · progressive | Africa | forest |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Africa |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **wish** | past | the lamp |  |  |  | then | for a wax taper | vn long-32.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot for taper=Theme |
| 5 | **light** | to-infinitive · passive | the lamp *not said here* |  |  |  |  | in man | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP» |
| 6 | **see** | would · perfect · passive |  | the old woman |  |  | then | clearly *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **do** | past | man | man |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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