---
title: The old man, who was indeed Death himself, nodded his head in a pecu… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The old man, who was indeed Death himself, nodded his head in a peculiar manner, which might have signified either Yes, or No; and the mother cast down her eyes, while the tears rolled down her cheeks. Who acts: old man, tears. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Story of a Mother, sentence 9

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The old man, who was indeed Death himself, nodded his head in a peculiar manner, which might have signified either Yes, or No; and the mother cast down her eyes, while the tears rolled down her cheeks.

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**Who acts:** old man, tears · **What happens:** be, nod, signify, roll down · **To what, where:** Death, head, peculiar manner, cheeks

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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, tears), 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:pg27200:185:9
# text = The old man, who was indeed Death himself, nodded his head in a peculiar manner, which might have signified either Yes, or No; and the mother cast down her eyes, while the tears rolled down her cheeks.
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	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	Death	Death	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
9	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
11	nodded	nod	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	peculiar	peculiar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
20	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	aux	_	_
22	signified	signify	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	acl:relcl	_	_
23	either	either	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc:preconj	_	_
24	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	22	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	11	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	_
32	cast	cast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
33	down	down	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
37	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nsubj	_	_
40	rolled	roll	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
41	down	down	ADP	RP	_	40	compound:prt	_	_
42	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	cheeks	cheek	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the old man | Death |  |  |  | man *nmod*; indeed *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **nod** | past | the old man | man's head |  |  |  | in a peculiar manner; the mother cast down Death's eyes *obl* | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent head=Patient in manner=Theme |
| 3 | **signify** | might · perfect · passive |  | a peculiar manner |  |  |  |  | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **roll down** | past | the tears | Death's cheeks |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location cheek=Theme |

<!-- .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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