--- title: "It would have been better, after all, if he had been apprenticed to… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: "It would have been better, after all, if he had been apprenticed to a handicraftsman," said the porter's wife, weeping; "for then we could have kept him with us. Who acts: medal, wife. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Porter's Son, part 2, with its depen --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/147/23/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/) / [The Porter's Son, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/147/) / 23 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Porter's Son, part 2, sentence 23 "It would have been better, after all, if he had been apprenticed to a handicraftsman," said the porter's wife, weeping; "for then we could have kept him with us. **Who acts:** medal, wife · **What happens:** be, apprentice, say, weep, keep · **To what, where:** Emily, we · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Porter's Son, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (medal, wife), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg27200:147:23 # text = "It would have been better, after all, if he had been apprenticed to a handicraftsman," said the porter's wife, weeping; "for then we could have kept him with us. 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 3 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 6 aux _ _ 4 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 6 aux _ _ 5 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 6 cop _ _ 6 better good ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 21 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 8 after after ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 6 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 11 if if SCONJ IN _ 15 mark _ _ 12 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 13 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 aux _ _ 14 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 15 aux:pass _ _ 15 apprenticed apprentice VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 6 advcl _ _ 16 to to ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 handicraftsman handicraftsman NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 20 " " PUNCT '' _ 6 punct _ _ 21 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 porter porter NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 24 's 's PART POS _ 23 case _ _ 25 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 27 weeping weep VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 21 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 ; ; PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 29 " " PUNCT `` _ 35 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 30 for for ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 31 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 35 obl _ _ 32 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj:pass _ _ 33 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 35 aux _ _ 34 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 35 aux _ _ 35 kept keep VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 21 conj _ _ 36 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 obj _ _ 37 with with ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 38 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 . . PUNCT . _ 21 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** *in a quote* | would · perfect | medal | | | | after all | good *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **apprentice** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past · perfect · passive | | Emily | | | | to a handicraftsman | vn orphan-29.7 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the porter's wife | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **weep** | gerund | the porter's wife *not said here* | | | | | | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **keep** *in a quote* | could · perfect · passive | | we | | | | with us | vn sustain-55.6-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme he=Attribute | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/147/22/) - next →: [sentence 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/147/24/) - ↑ back to [The Porter's Son, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/147/)