---
title: It was certainly a very difficult name to pronounce, and there are v… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: It was certainly a very difficult name to pronounce, and there are very few who ever receive such a title, but then it seemed wonderful how he came to be carved at all; yet there he was, always looking at the table under the looking-glass, where stood a very pretty little shepherdess made of china. 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/166/7/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / [The Shepherdess and the Sheep](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/166/) / 7

# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Shepherdess and the Sheep, sentence 7

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was certainly a very difficult name to pronounce, and there are very few who ever receive such a title, but then it seemed wonderful how he came to be carved at all; yet there he was, always looking at the table under the looking-glass, where stood a very pretty little shepherdess made of china.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** field, few, it, man · **What happens:** be, pronounce, receive, seem, come, carve · **To what, where:** difficult name, title, all, pretty little shepherdess

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (field, few, it, 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:pg27200:166:7
# text = It was certainly a very difficult name to pronounce, and there are very few who ever receive such a title, but then it seemed wonderful how he came to be carved at all; yet there he was, always looking at the table under the looking-glass, where stood a very pretty little shepherdess made of china.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
3	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	pronounce	pronounce	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	13	expl	_	_
13	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
14	very	very	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	nsubj	_	_
16	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
17	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	18	advmod	_	_
18	receive	receive	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	parataxis	_	_
19	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	21	det:predet	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	title	title	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
24	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	26	advmod	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	parataxis	_	_
27	wonderful	wonderful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	xcomp	_	_
28	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	30	advmod	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
32	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	carved	carve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	advcl	_	_
34	at	at	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
37	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	43	advmod	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
40	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	43	advmod	_	_
43	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	conj	_	_
44	at	at	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
47	under	under	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
49	looking	look	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	51	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	49	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
53	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	54	advmod	_	_
54	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	conj	_	_
55	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
56	very	very	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
57	pretty	pretty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	amod	_	_
58	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	amod	_	_
59	shepherdess	shepherdess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obj	_	_
60	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	59	acl	_	_
61	of	of	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
62	china	china	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | field | a difficult name |  |  |  | certainly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **pronounce** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **be** | present | few |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **receive** | present |  | such title |  |  | ever |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent title=Theme |
| 5 | **seem** | past | it |  |  |  | then | wonderful *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **come** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **carve** | to-infinitive · passive | man *not said here* |  |  | all |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V» |
| 8 | **look** | past · progressive | man |  |  | there |  | under the looking glass; at the table; always *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at table=Theme |
| 9 | **look** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 10 | **stand** | past | man *not said here* | a pretty little shepherdess |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer shepherdess=Stimulus |
| 11 | **make** | participle |  | a pretty little shepherdess *not said here* |  |  |  | of china | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/166/6/)
- next →: [sentence 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/166/8/)
- ↑ back to [The Shepherdess and the Sheep](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/166/)