---
title: Each of them is like a closed book, with the back uppermost, on whic… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Each of them is like a closed book, with the back uppermost, on which we can read the title of what the book contains, but nothing more. Who acts: Each, we, book. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, A Cheerful Temper, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, A Cheerful Temper, sentence 20

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Each of them is like a closed book, with the back uppermost, on which we can read the title of what the book contains, but nothing more.

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**Who acts:** Each, we, book · **What happens:** close, be, read, contain · **To what, where:** title

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, A Cheerful Temper. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Each, we, book), 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:pg27200:16:20
# text = Each of them is like a closed book, with the back uppermost, on which we can read the title of what the book contains, but nothing more.
1	Each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	nmod	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	like	like	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	closed	close	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	amod	_	_
8	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl:unmarked	_	_
13	uppermost	uppermost	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	on	on	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	19	obl	_	_
17	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	read	read	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	parataxis	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	title	title	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	21	nmod	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
26	contains	contain	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	19	parataxis	_	_
30	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	29	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **close** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | present | Each |  |  |  |  | like a closed book | tree rules |
| 3 | **read** | can | we | the title |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent title=Topic |
| 4 | **contain** | present | the book |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot |

<!-- .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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