---
title: Then he would vex and fret himself because they did not laugh at the… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he would vex and fret himself because they did not laugh at the right time, or because they laughed in the wrong places; and so he fretted and worried himself till at last the unhappy man fretted himself into the grave. Who acts: public, things, unhappy man. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans C
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, A Cheerful Temper, sentence 32

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then he would vex and fret himself because they did not laugh at the right time, or because they laughed in the wrong places; and so he fretted and worried himself till at last the unhappy man fretted himself into the grave.

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**Who acts:** public, things, unhappy man · **What happens:** vex, fret, not laugh, laugh, worry · **To what, where:** public, last

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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 (public, things, unhappy man), 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:pg27200:16:32
# text = Then he would vex and fret himself because they did not laugh at the right time, or because they laughed in the wrong places; and so he fretted and worried himself till at last the unhappy man fretted himself into the grave.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	vex	vex	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	fret	fret	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
7	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	6	obj	_	_
8	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	laugh	laugh	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
19	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	places	place	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	so	so	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	fretted	fret	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	worried	worry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	_
33	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	32	obj	_	_
34	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
35	at	at	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	obl	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	unhappy	unhappy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nsubj	_	_
40	fretted	fret	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	advcl	_	_
41	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	40	obj	_	_
42	into	into	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	grave	grave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **vex** | would | public |  |  |  | then |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **fret** | infinitive | public *not said here* | public |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **laugh** | past · do-support | things *= thing* |  |  |  | time |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **laugh** | past | things *= thing* |  |  |  |  | in the wrong places | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in place=Theme |
| 5 | **fret** | past | public |  |  |  |  |  | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **worry** | past | public *not said here* | public |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus himself=Experiencer |
| 7 | **fret** | past | the unhappy man | public |  | last |  | into the grave | tree rules |

<!-- .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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