--- title: The old man sat and rocked the cradle; and the mother seated herself… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: The old man sat and rocked the cradle; and the mother seated herself on a chair near him, and looked at her sick child who still breathed heavily, and took hold of its little hand. Who acts: old man, mother, sick child. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The St --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/185/6/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/) / [The Story of a Mother](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/185/) / 6 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Story of a Mother, sentence 6 The old man sat and rocked the cradle; and the mother seated herself on a chair near him, and looked at her sick child who still breathed heavily, and took hold of its little hand. **Who acts:** old man, mother, sick child · **What happens:** sit, rock, seat, look, breathe, take · **To what, where:** cradle, mother, chair, hold, little hand This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Story of a Mother. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man, mother, sick child), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg27200:185:6 # text = The old man sat and rocked the cradle; and the mother seated herself on a chair near him, and looked at her sick child who still breathed heavily, and took hold of its little hand. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 sat sit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 and and CCONJ CC _ 6 cc _ _ 6 rocked rock VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 cradle cradle NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 ; ; PUNCT : _ 13 punct _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 mother mother NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nsubj _ _ 13 seated seat VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 14 herself herself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 13 obj _ _ 15 on on ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 chair chair NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obl _ _ 18 near near ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 19 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 22 looked look VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 23 at at ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 24 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 26 nmod:poss _ _ 25 sick sick ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ _ 26 child child NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ _ 27 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 29 nsubj _ _ 28 still still ADV RB _ 29 advmod _ _ 29 breathed breathe VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 acl:relcl _ _ 30 heavily heavily ADV RB _ 29 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 33 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 34 hold hold NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obj _ _ 35 of of ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 36 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 38 nmod:poss _ _ 37 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 38 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 39 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **sit** | past | the old man | | | | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **rock** | past | the old man *not said here* | the cradle | | | | | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location cradle=Theme | | 3 | **seat** | past | the mother | mother | | a chair | | near man | vn fit-54.3 «NP.location V NP»: agent=Location herself=Value | | 4 | **look** | past | the old man *not said here* | | | | | at mother's sick child | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at child=Theme | | 5 | **breathe** | past | mother's sick child | | | | still | heavily *property* | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **take** | past | the old man *not said here* | hold of child's little hand | | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Theme | | 7 | **hold** | | | child's little hand | | | | | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/185/5/) - next →: [sentence 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/185/7/) - ↑ back to [The Story of a Mother](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/185/)