---
title: The collar had become so old that he began to think about getting ma… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The collar had become so old that he began to think about getting married; and one day he happened to find himself in the same washing-tub as a garter. " Who acts: collar, gentleman. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Shirt-collar, with its dependency tree 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Shirt-collar, sentence 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The collar had become so old that he began to think about getting married; and one day he happened to find himself in the same washing-tub as a garter. "

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**Who acts:** collar, gentleman · **What happens:** become, begin, think, marry, happen, find · **To what, where:** gentleman, same washing tub · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (collar, gentleman), 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:pg27200:168:2
# text = The collar had become so old that he began to think about getting married; and one day he happened to find himself in the same washing-tub as a garter. "
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	collar	collar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	getting	get	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	married	marry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
17	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	18	nummod	_	_
18	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl:unmarked	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
23	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	22	obj	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
26	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
27	washing	washing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	tub	tub	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
30	as	as	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	garter	garter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	_
34	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | past · perfect | the collar |  |  |  |  | old *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **begin** | past | gentleman |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | gentleman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **marry** | gerund · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V» |
| 5 | **happen** | past | gentleman |  |  |  | day |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **find** | to-infinitive | gentleman *not said here* | gentleman |  | the same washing tub as a garter |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Topic |

<!-- .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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