---
title: The General certainly seemed to grow an inch taller, assumed a more… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The General certainly seemed to grow an inch taller, assumed a more stately demeanor, and took two steps backward and one step forward, as if he were dancing a minuet, and then came as much gravity and expression into the face of the General as the General could contrive to infuse into it; but he re
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Porter's Son, part 3, sentence 104

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The General certainly seemed to grow an inch taller, assumed a more stately demeanor, and took two steps backward and one step forward, as if he were dancing a minuet, and then came as much gravity and expression into the face of the General as the General could contrive to infuse into it; but he replied,

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**Who acts:** General · **What happens:** seem, grow, assume, take, dance, come · **To what, where:** inch, stately demeanor, minuet, much gravity, face

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Porter's Son, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (General), 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:pg27200:148:104
# text = The General certainly seemed to grow an inch taller, assumed a more stately demeanor, and took two steps backward and one step forward, as if he were dancing a minuet, and then came as much gravity and expression into the face of the General as the General could contrive to infuse into it; but he replied,
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	General	General	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	inch	inch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	taller	tall	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	assumed	assume	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	14	advmod	_	_
14	stately	stately	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	demeanor	demeanor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
19	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	nummod	_	_
20	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl:unmarked	_	_
21	backward	backward	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	24	nummod	_	_
24	step	step	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	_
25	forward	forward	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
28	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	dancing	dance	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	minuet	minuet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
36	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	37	advmod	_	_
37	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
38	as	as	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	gravity	gravity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	expression	expression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	conj	_	_
43	into	into	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	General	general	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
49	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	General	General	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	53	nsubj	_	_
52	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
53	contrive	contrive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	advcl	_	_
54	to	to	PART	TO	_	55	mark	_	_
55	infuse	infuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	xcomp	_	_
56	into	into	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
57	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	61	punct	_	_
59	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	61	cc	_	_
60	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	61	nsubj	_	_
61	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | the General |  |  |  |  | certainly *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **grow** | to-infinitive | the General *not said here* | a inch |  |  |  | tall *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location inch=Theme |
| 3 | **assume** | past | the General *not said here* | a stately demeanor |  |  |  |  | vn adopt-93.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent demeanor=Theme |
| 4 | **take** | past |  |  |  |  |  | backward, forward *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **dance** | past · progressive | General | a minuet |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location minuet=Theme |
| 6 | **come** | past |  | much gravity and expression |  | the face | then |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location gravity=Theme |
| 7 | **contrive** | could | the General |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **infuse** | to-infinitive | the General *not said here* |  |  | face |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | General |  |  |  |  |  | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=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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