---
title: Alas! there lay the old Chinaman on the floor; he had fallen down fr… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Alas! there lay the old Chinaman on the floor; he had fallen down from the table as he attempted to run after them, and was broken into three pieces; his back had separated entirely, and his head had rolled into a corner of the room. Who acts: place. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Ande
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Shepherdess and the Sheep, sentence 63

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Alas! there lay the old Chinaman on the floor; he had fallen down from the table as he attempted to run after them, and was broken into three pieces; his back had separated entirely, and his head had rolled into a corner of the room.

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**Who acts:** place · **What happens:** lie, fall down, attempt, run, break, separate · **To what, where:** old Chinaman, floor, table, three pieces, back, head

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Shepherdess and the Sheep. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (place), 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:pg27200:166:63
# text = Alas! there lay the old Chinaman on the floor; he had fallen down from the table as he attempted to run after them, and was broken into three pieces; his back had separated entirely, and his head had rolled into a corner of the room.
1	Alas	alas	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
3	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
4	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	Chinaman	Chinaman	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	fallen	fall	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
15	down	down	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
16	from	from	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
19	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	attempted	attempt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	after	after	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	conj	_	_
30	into	into	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	nummod	_	_
32	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nsubj:pass	_	_
36	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	separated	separate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
38	entirely	entirely	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
41	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nsubj:pass	_	_
43	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
44	rolled	roll	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	conj	_	_
45	into	into	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	corner	corner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lie** | past |  | the old Chinaman |  | the floor; there |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **fall down** | past · perfect | place |  |  | the table |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from table=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **attempt** | past | place |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **run** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | place *not said here* |  |  |  | after legs *= leg* |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **break** | past · passive | place *not said here* |  |  |  |  | into three pieces *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V PP.result»: into piece=Result |
| 6 | **separate** | past · perfect · passive |  | place's back |  |  |  | entirely *property* | vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 7 | **roll** | past · perfect · passive |  | place's head |  | a corner of the room |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: subject=Theme into corner=Trajectory |

<!-- .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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