---
title: But many of the mice, as they were returning home, said that the sou… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: But many of the mice, as they were returning home, said that the soup could not be properly called "soup from a sausage skewer," but "soup from a mouse's tail." Who acts: thoughts, many. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, How It Was Prepared, with its dependenc
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, How It Was Prepared, sentence 18

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But many of the mice, as they were returning home, said that the soup could not be properly called "soup from a sausage skewer," but "soup from a mouse's tail."

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**Who acts:** thoughts, many · **What happens:** return, say, not call · **To what, where:** soup · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, How It Was Prepared. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (thoughts, many), 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:pg27200:182:18
# text = But many of the mice, as they were returning home, said that the soup could not be properly called "soup from a sausage skewer," but "soup from a mouse's tail."
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
2	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	returning	return	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
11	home	home	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	soup	soup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
19	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	aux:pass	_	_
20	properly	properly	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	ccomp	_	_
22	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	soup	soup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	xcomp	_	_
24	from	from	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	sausage	sausage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	compound	_	_
27	skewer	skewer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	32	punct	_	_
30	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	soup	soup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	conj	_	_
33	from	from	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	's	's	PART	POS	_	35	case	_	_
37	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **return** | past · progressive | thoughts *= thought* |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | many of the mice |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **call** | could · passive |  | the soup |  |  |  | properly *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |

<!-- .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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