---
title: These words had been written at the dictation of the General's lady,… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: These words had been written at the dictation of the General's lady, and the General had read the inscription, and pronounced it "Charming!" Who acts: General, lady. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Porter's Son, part 1, with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Porter's Son, part 1, sentence 79

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
These words had been written at the dictation of the General's lady, and the General had read the inscription, and pronounced it "Charming!"

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**Who acts:** General, lady · **What happens:** write, read, pronounce, dictate · **To what, where:** words, dictation, inscription

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Porter's Son, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (General, lady), 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:pg27200:146:79
# text = These words had been written at the dictation of the General's lady, and the General had read the inscription, and pronounced it "Charming!"
1	These	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	dictation	dictation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	General	General	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	's	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	General	General	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
18	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	read	read	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	inscription	inscription	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	Charming	Charming	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	24	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | past · perfect · passive |  | this words |  | the dictation of the General's lady |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **read** | past · perfect | the General | the inscription |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent inscription=Topic |
| 3 | **pronounce** | past |  | inscription |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme charming=Result |
| 4 | **dictate** |  | the General's lady |  |  |  |  |  | nom dictation «communication intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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