---
title: "The Professor was a true man," said the Count, "and would be a priv… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: "The Professor was a true man," said the Count, "and would be a privy councillor before he died, it was not at all unlikely; and he might build a real castle for the young lady before that time came: why not?" Who acts: Professor, true man, Count, time. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian A
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Porter's Son, part 3, sentence 25

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"The Professor was a true man," said the Count, "and would be a privy councillor before he died, it was not at all unlikely; and he might build a real castle for the young lady before that time came: why not?"

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**Who acts:** Professor, true man, Count, time · **What happens:** be, say, die, not be, build, come · **To what, where:** true man, Count, privy councillor, all, real castle · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Professor, true man, Count, time), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg27200:148:25
# text = "The Professor was a true man," said the Count, "and would be a privy councillor before he died, it was not at all unlikely; and he might build a real castle for the young lady before that time came: why not?"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Professor	Professor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	Count	count	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
14	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
16	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	cop	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	privy	privy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	councillor	councillor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
21	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	expl	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
27	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
28	at	at	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	30	obl	_	_
30	unlikely	unlikely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	build	build	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	_
39	for	for	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
43	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
44	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	45	det	_	_
45	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nsubj	_	_
46	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	48	punct	_	_
48	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	parataxis	_	_
49	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	50	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	48	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	48	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | the Professor | a true man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | a true man | the Count and a privy councillor |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | would | a true man *not said here* | a privy councillor |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **die** *in a quote* | past | Count |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 5 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | past |  |  |  | all |  | unlikely *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **build** *in a quote* | might | Count | a real castle |  |  |  | for the young lady | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent castle=Product for lady=Beneficiary |
| 7 | **come** *in a quote* | past | that time |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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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