---
title: Yet she was a very clever lady-owl; she explained to me that the wat… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Yet she was a very clever lady-owl; she explained to me that the watchman could only hoot with the horn that hung loose at his side; and then she said he is so terribly proud of it, that he imagines himself an owl in the tower;--wants to do great things, but only succeeds in small; all soup on a sau
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, What the Fourth Mouse, Who Spoke Before the Third, Had to Tell, sentence 38

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yet she was a very clever lady-owl; she explained to me that the watchman could only hoot with the horn that hung loose at his side; and then she said he is so terribly proud of it, that he imagines himself an owl in the tower;--wants to do great things, but only succeeds in small; all soup on a sausage skewer.

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**Who acts:** fact, watchman, horn, creature · **What happens:** be, explain, hoot, hang, say, imagine · **To what, where:** clever lady owl, me, side, creature, great things, small · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (fact, watchman, horn, creature), 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:pg27200:181:38
# text = Yet she was a very clever lady-owl; she explained to me that the watchman could only hoot with the horn that hung loose at his side; and then she said he is so terribly proud of it, that he imagines himself an owl in the tower;--wants to do great things, but only succeeds in small; all soup on a sausage skewer.
1	Yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
7	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	explained	explain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	watchman	watchman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
18	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	only	only	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	hoot	hoot	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	ccomp	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	horn	horn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
25	hung	hang	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
26	loose	loose	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
27	at	at	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
32	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	34	advmod	_	_
33	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
36	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
37	so	so	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
38	terribly	terribly	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	proud	proud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	ccomp	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
43	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
44	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	imagines	imagine	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	conj	_	_
46	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	45	obj	_	_
47	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	_
49	in	in	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	tower	tower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	54	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	wants	want	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
55	to	to	PART	TO	_	56	mark	_	_
56	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	54	xcomp	_	_
57	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
60	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
61	only	only	ADV	RB	_	62	advmod	_	_
62	succeeds	succeed	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	54	conj	_	_
63	in	in	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
64	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	67	punct	_	_
66	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	67	det	_	_
67	soup	soup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
68	on	on	ADP	IN	_	71	case	_	_
69	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	71	det	_	_
70	sausage	sausage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	71	compound	_	_
71	skewer	skewer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	67	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | fact | a clever lady owl and all soup on a sausage skewer |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **explain** *speech: assert* | past | fact |  | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V PP.recipient how S»: agent=Agent to i=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **hoot** | could | the watchman |  |  |  |  | with the horn | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with horn=Theme |
| 4 | **hang** | past | the horn |  |  | creature's side |  | loose *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at side=Location |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | fact |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** | present | creature |  |  |  |  | of side; proud, terribly *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **imagine** | present | creature | creature |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **want** | present | fact *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 9 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | fact *not said here* | great things |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality |
| 10 | **succeed** | present | fact *not said here* |  |  | small |  |  | vn succeed-74-1 «NP V PP.eventuality S\_ING»: agent=Agent in small=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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