---
title: The box-keepers were at their posts, and every spectator had to show… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The box-keepers were at their posts, and every spectator had to show his ghostly pass-book, that it might be decided if he was to be admitted with hands loose or bound, and with or without a muzzle. Who acts: box keepers, spectator. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. And
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Our Aunt, sentence 64

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The box-keepers were at their posts, and every spectator had to show his ghostly pass-book, that it might be decided if he was to be admitted with hands loose or bound, and with or without a muzzle.

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**Who acts:** box keepers, spectator · **What happens:** be, have, show, decide, admit · **To what, where:** posts, ghostly pass book, book, business

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Our Aunt. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (box keepers, spectator), 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:pg27200:139:64
# text = The box-keepers were at their posts, and every spectator had to show his ghostly pass-book, that it might be decided if he was to be admitted with hands loose or bound, and with or without a muzzle.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	box	box	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	keepers	keeper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	posts	post	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	12	det	_	_
12	spectator	spectator	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
17	ghostly	ghostly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
18	pass	pass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	decided	decide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	conj	_	_
27	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux:pass	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
31	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	aux:pass	_	_
32	admitted	admit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	advcl	_	_
33	with	with	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	_
35	loose	loose	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	xcomp	_	_
36	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	bound	bound	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
40	with	with	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
41	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	without	without	ADP	IN	_	40	conj	_	_
43	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	muzzle	muzzle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the box keepers |  |  | keepers's posts and a muzzle |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past | every spectator |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **show** | to-infinitive | every spectator *not said here* | business's ghostly pass book |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent book=Recipient |
| 4 | **decide** | might · passive |  | book |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V S»: subject=Topic |
| 5 | **admit** *speech: other* *a condition, not said to happen* | past · passive |  | business |  |  |  | with hands; loose *property* | vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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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