---
title: I am a child of the court," she said; now she might just as well hav… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: I am a child of the court," she said; now she might just as well have been a child of the cellar, for no one can help his birth; and then she told the other children that she was well-born, and said that no one who was not well-born could rise in the world. Who acts: I, girl, one. A sentence of «Fai
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Children's Prattle, sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I am a child of the court," she said; now she might just as well have been a child of the cellar, for no one can help his birth; and then she told the other children that she was well-born, and said that no one who was not well-born could rise in the world.

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**Who acts:** I, girl, one · **What happens:** be, say, help, tell, bear, not bear · **To what, where:** child, birth, other children, girl, one, world · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Children's Prattle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, girl, one), 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:pg27200:18:9
# text = I am a child of the court," she said; now she might just as well have been a child of the cellar, for no one can help his birth; and then she told the other children that she was well-born, and said that no one who was not well-born could rise in the world.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	court	court	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
10	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
13	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	advmod	_	_
14	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
15	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
16	just	just	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	as	as	ADV	RB	_	22	cc	_	_
18	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	17	fixed	_	_
19	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
20	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	22	cop	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	ccomp	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	cellar	cellar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
28	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	29	det	_	_
29	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
30	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	ccomp	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
36	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	38	advmod	_	_
37	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obj	_	_
42	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
43	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj:pass	_	_
44	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	aux:pass	_	_
45	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	47	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	45	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	38	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	conj	_	_
51	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	61	mark	_	_
52	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	53	det	_	_
53	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	nsubj	_	_
54	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	59	nsubj:pass	_	_
55	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	59	aux:pass	_	_
56	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	59	advmod	_	_
57	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	59	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	57	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	53	acl:relcl	_	_
60	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	61	aux	_	_
61	rise	rise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	ccomp	_	_
62	in	in	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
63	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
64	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | I | a child |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | girl |  |  |  |  | of the court | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | might | girl | a child |  |  | now | of the cellar | tree rules |
| 4 | **help** *in a quote* | can | no one | father's birth |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent birth=Beneficiary |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | girl |  | the other children |  | then |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent child=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **bear** *in a quote* | past · passive |  | girl |  |  |  | well *property* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 7 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | girl *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **not** **bear** *in a quote* | past · passive |  | no one |  |  |  | well *property* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 9 | **rise** *in a quote* | could | no one |  |  | the world |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in world=Location |

<!-- .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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