---
title: Yes, he was the child of respectable people, and there were even som… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Yes, he was the child of respectable people, and there were even some who said that he was the son of a privy councillor, or that he might have been. Who acts: Such, some. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Ole the Tower-keeper, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Ole the Tower-keeper, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, he was the child of respectable people, and there were even some who said that he was the son of a privy councillor, or that he might have been.

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**Who acts:** Such, some · **What happens:** be, say · **To what, where:** child, son · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Ole the Tower-keeper. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Such, some), 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:pg27200:135:5
# text = Yes, he was the child of respectable people, and there were even some who said that he was the son of a privy councillor, or that he might have been.
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	respectable	respectable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	13	expl	_	_
13	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
14	even	even	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	13	nsubj	_	_
16	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	ccomp	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	privy	privy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	councillor	councillor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
28	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
29	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
31	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	aux	_	_
33	been	be	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Such | the child |  |  |  | of respectable people | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** | past | some |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **is a** | past | Such | the son |  |  |  | of a privy councillor | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** | might · perfect | Such |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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