--- title: But the oldest of the crows perhaps knew more than he, and screamed… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: But the oldest of the crows perhaps knew more than he, and screamed it out in her own language; but that was the crow's language, and the clerk did not understand that, clever as he was. Who acts: oldest, that, clerk. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Poultry --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/149/12/) [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/) / [Poultry Meg's Family](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/149/) / 12 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Poultry Meg's Family, sentence 12 But the oldest of the crows perhaps knew more than he, and screamed it out in her own language; but that was the crow's language, and the clerk did not understand that, clever as he was. **Who acts:** oldest, that, clerk · **What happens:** know, scream out, be, not understand · **To what, where:** more, knowledge, own language, language, that This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Poultry Meg's Family. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (oldest, that, clerk), 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:pg27200:149:12 # text = But the oldest of the crows perhaps knew more than he, and screamed it out in her own language; but that was the crow's language, and the clerk did not understand that, clever as he was. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 oldest old ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 8 nsubj _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 crows crow NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 obl _ _ 7 perhaps perhaps ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 8 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 9 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 8 obj _ _ 10 than than ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 11 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 14 screamed scream VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ _ 15 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 obj _ _ 16 out out ADP RP _ 14 compound:prt _ _ 17 in in ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 18 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 20 nmod:poss _ _ 19 own own ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 language language NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 ; ; PUNCT : _ 28 punct _ _ 22 but but CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 23 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 28 nsubj _ _ 24 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 28 cop _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 crow crow NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 27 's 's PART POS _ 26 case _ _ 28 language language NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 clerk clerk NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nsubj _ _ 33 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 aux _ _ 34 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 35 advmod _ _ 35 understand understand VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 28 parataxis _ _ 36 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 35 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 38 clever clever ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 conj _ _ 39 as as SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 40 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 41 was be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 38 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **know** | past | the oldest | more | | | | perhaps *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer more=Stimulus | | 2 | **scream out** *speech: express* | past | the oldest *not said here* | knowledge | | many's own language | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic | | 3 | **is a** | past | that | the crow's language | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **not** **understand** | past · do-support | the clerk | that | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer that=Stimulus | | 5 | **be** | | that *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **be** | past | clerk | | | | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/149/11/) - next →: [sentence 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/149/13/) - ↑ back to [Poultry Meg's Family](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/149/)