---
title: One may however be mistaken sometimes; and so was I, for this was a… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: One may however be mistaken sometimes; and so was I, for this was a respectable and well-educated old owl, who knew more than the watchman, and even as much as I did myself. Who acts: this, respectable educated old owl, I. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Wha
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, What the Fourth Mouse, Who Spoke Before the Third, Had to Tell, sentence 32

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One may however be mistaken sometimes; and so was I, for this was a respectable and well-educated old owl, who knew more than the watchman, and even as much as I did myself.

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**Who acts:** this, respectable educated old owl, I · **What happens:** mistake, be, know, do · **To what, where:** One, I, more, myself

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, What the Fourth Mouse, Who Spoke Before the Third, 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 (this, respectable educated old owl, I), 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:pg27200:181:32
# text = One may however be mistaken sometimes; and so was I, for this was a respectable and well-educated old owl, who knew more than the watchman, and even as much as I did myself.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	however	however	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	mistaken	mistake	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
14	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
17	respectable	respectable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
19	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	educated	educated	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
22	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
26	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
27	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	26	obj	_	_
28	than	than	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	watchman	watchman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
33	even	even	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
34	as	as	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	conj	_	_
36	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
37	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	advcl	_	_
39	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	38	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mistake** | may · passive |  | One |  |  |  | however, sometimes *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | I |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | this |  |  |  |  | for a respectable educated old owl | tree rules |
| 4 | **know** | past | a respectable educated old owl | more |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer more=Stimulus |
| 5 | **do** | past | I | myself |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=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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