---
title: I retraced my steps to the library, and literally devoured a whole n… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: I retraced my steps to the library, and literally devoured a whole novel, that is, properly speaking, the interior or soft part of it; the crust, or binding, I left. Who acts: I, that, my. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, What the Second Mouse Had to Tell, wi
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, What the Second Mouse Had to Tell, sentence 59

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I retraced my steps to the library, and literally devoured a whole novel, that is, properly speaking, the interior or soft part of it; the crust, or binding, I left.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, that, my · **What happens:** retrace, devour, speak, bind, leave, step · **To what, where:** steps, whole novel, interior · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, What the Second Mouse Had to Tell. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, that, my), 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:pg27200:180:59
# text = I retraced my steps to the library, and literally devoured a whole novel, that is, properly speaking, the interior or soft part of it; the crust, or binding, I left.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	retraced	retrace	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	library	library	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	literally	literally	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	devoured	devour	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	novel	novel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	nsubj	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	properly	properly	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	interior	interior	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
24	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	conj	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	crust	crust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	binding	bind	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **retrace** | past | I | my steps |  |  |  | to the library | tree rules |
| 2 | **devour** | past | I *not said here* | a whole novel |  |  |  | literally *property* | vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent novel=Patient |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | present · progressive | that | the interior or soft part of part and the crust |  |  |  | properly *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **bind** | gerund | that *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **leave** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **step** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom step «act transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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