--- title: There was once a fine gentleman who possessed among other things a b… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: There was once a fine gentleman who possessed among other things a boot-jack and a hair-brush; but he had also the finest shirt-collar in the world, and of this collar we are about to hear a story. Who acts: fine gentleman, gentleman, we. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/168/1/) [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 Shirt-collar](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/168/) / 1 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Shirt-collar, sentence 1 There was once a fine gentleman who possessed among other things a boot-jack and a hair-brush; but he had also the finest shirt-collar in the world, and of this collar we are about to hear a story. **Who acts:** fine gentleman, gentleman, we · **What happens:** be, possess, have, hear · **To what, where:** finest shirt collar, world, story This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Shirt-collar. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fine gentleman, gentleman, we), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg27200:168:1 # text = There was once a fine gentleman who possessed among other things a boot-jack and a hair-brush; but he had also the finest shirt-collar in the world, and of this collar we are about to hear a story. 1 There there PRON EX PronType=Dem 2 expl _ _ 2 was be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 once once ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult 2 advmod _ _ 4 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 5 fine fine ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 gentleman gentleman NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 nsubj _ _ 7 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 8 nsubj _ _ 8 possessed possess VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 acl:relcl _ _ 9 among among ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ _ 11 things thing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 obl _ _ 12 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 13 boot boot NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 14 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 13 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 jack jack NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 appos _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 17 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 18 hair hair NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 19 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 18 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 20 brush brush NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 21 ; ; PUNCT : _ 24 punct _ _ 22 but but CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 23 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 24 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 25 also also ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 27 finest fine ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 30 amod _ _ 28 shirt shirt NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 29 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 28 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 30 collar collar NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obj _ _ 31 in in ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 world world NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 36 of of ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 38 det _ _ 38 collar collar NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ _ 39 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 40 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 41 cop _ _ 41 about about ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 conj _ _ 42 to to PART TO _ 43 mark _ _ 43 hear hear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 41 xcomp _ _ 44 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 45 story story NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **be** | past | a fine gentleman | | | there | | once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **possess** | past | a fine gentleman | | | | | among other things | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot | | 3 | **have** | past | gentleman | the finest shirt collar | | the world | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent collar=Patient | | 4 | **is** | present | we | | | | | of this collar; about *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **hear** | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | a story | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer story=Stimulus | 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. **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. - ← previous: [The Silver Shilling, 89](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/167/89/) - next →: [sentence 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/168/2/) - ↑ back to [The Shirt-collar](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/168/)