---
title: But when a man, simply because he is of noble birth and possesses a… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: But when a man, simply because he is of noble birth and possesses a genealogy, stands on his hind legs and neighs in the street like an Arabian horse, and says when a commoner has been in a room: 'Some people from the street have been here,' there nobility is decaying; it has become a mask of the ki
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Everything in the Right Place, sentence 97

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But when a man, simply because he is of noble birth and possesses a genealogy, stands on his hind legs and neighs in the street like an Arabian horse, and says when a commoner has been in a room: 'Some people from the street have been here,' there nobility is decaying; it has become a mask of the kind that Thespis created, and it is amusing when such a person is exposed in satire."

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**Who acts:** widow, man, commoner, people, nobility, Thespis · **What happens:** be, possess, stand, neigh, say, decay · **To what, where:** genealogy, hind legs, street, room, mask, kind · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Everything in the Right Place. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (widow, man, commoner, people), 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:pg27200:155:97
# text = But when a man, simply because he is of noble birth and possesses a genealogy, stands on his hind legs and neighs in the street like an Arabian horse, and says when a commoner has been in a room: 'Some people from the street have been here,' there nobility is decaying; it has become a mask of the kind that Thespis created, and it is amusing when such a person is exposed in satire."
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
2	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	14	mark	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
6	simply	simply	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
7	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	noble	noble	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	possesses	possess	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	genealogy	genealogy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	stands	stand	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
19	on	on	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
21	hind	hind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	neighs	neigh	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	street	street	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
28	like	like	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	Arabian	Arabian	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
35	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	42	advmod	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	commoner	commoner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
38	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
39	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	42	cop	_	_
40	in	in	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	46	punct	_	_
44	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	46	det	_	_
46	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	nsubj	_	_
47	from	from	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	street	street	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	_
50	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
51	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	52	cop	_	_
52	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	42	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	58	punct	_	_
55	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	58	expl	_	_
56	nobility	nobility	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nsubj	_	_
57	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
58	decaying	decay	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	42	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	62	punct	_	_
60	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	62	nsubj	_	_
61	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	62	aux	_	_
62	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	18	parataxis	_	_
63	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
64	mask	mask	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	xcomp	_	_
65	of	of	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
66	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	67	det	_	_
67	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	nmod	_	_
68	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	70	obj	_	_
69	Thespis	Thespis	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	70	nsubj	_	_
70	created	create	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	67	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	75	punct	_	_
72	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	75	cc	_	_
73	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	75	nsubj	_	_
74	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	75	cop	_	_
75	amusing	amusing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	parataxis	_	_
76	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	81	mark	_	_
77	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	79	det:predet	_	_
78	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	79	det	_	_
79	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	81	nsubj:pass	_	_
80	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	81	aux:pass	_	_
81	exposed	expose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	75	advcl	_	_
82	in	in	ADP	IN	_	83	case	_	_
83	satire	satire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	81	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
84	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
85	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | widow |  |  |  |  | of noble birth; simply *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **possess** | present | a man and noble birth | a genealogy |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot genealogy=Theme |
| 3 | **stand** | present |  |  |  | widow's hind legs |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on leg=Location |
| 4 | **neigh** | present |  |  |  | the street like a Arabian horse |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** | present · perfect | a commoner |  |  | a room |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **is** | present · perfect | some people from the street |  |  |  |  | here *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **decay** | present · progressive | nobility |  |  | there |  |  | vn entity\_specific\_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 9 | **become** | present · perfect | Nobility | a mask of the kind |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 10 | **create** | past | Thespis | the kind |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Result |
| 11 | **is** | present | Nobility |  |  |  |  | amusing *property* | tree rules |
| 12 | **expose** | present · passive |  | such person |  | satire |  |  | vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |

<!-- .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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