---
title: "It is very easy to ask that," replied the crow, "but how are we to… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: "It is very easy to ask that," replied the crow, "but how are we to manage it? Who acts: crow, we. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Prince and Princess, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Prince and Princess, sentence 63

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"It is very easy to ask that," replied the crow, "but how are we to manage it?

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**Who acts:** crow, we · **What happens:** be, ask, reply · **To what, where:** that · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Prince and Princess. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (crow, we), 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:pg27200:173:63
# text = "It is very easy to ask that," replied the crow, "but how are we to manage it?
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	expl	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	csubj	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	_
11	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	crow	crow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
15	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
17	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	21	advmod	_	_
18	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
19	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	manage	manage	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | easy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | that |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent that=Recipient |
| 3 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the crow |  |  |  |  |  | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | we |  |  |  |  | manage *property* | tree rules |

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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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