---
title: "Yes, they're rare old fellows, those boulders!" he said; "and to th… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: "Yes, they're rare old fellows, those boulders!" he said; "and to think that we should pass them without noticing them! Who acts: books, he, we. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, First Visit, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, First Visit, sentence 3

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"Yes, they're rare old fellows, those boulders!" he said; "and to think that we should pass them without noticing them!

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**Who acts:** books, he, we · **What happens:** be, say, think, pass, notice · **To what, where:** rare old fellows, books · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, First Visit. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (books, he, we), 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:pg27200:136:3
# text = "Yes, they're rare old fellows, those boulders!" he said; "and to think that we should pass them without noticing them!
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	're	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	rare	rare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	fellows	fellow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	11	det	_	_
11	boulders	boulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
17	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	ccomp	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
27	noticing	notice	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | books *= book* | rare old fellows and that boulders |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: express* | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* *in a quote* | to-infinitive | he *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **pass** *in a quote* | should | we | books *= book* |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme they=Trajectory |
| 5 | **notice** *in a quote* | gerund | we *not said here* | books *= book* |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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