---
title: The soldier already stood on the ladder; but as they were about to p… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The soldier already stood on the ladder; but as they were about to place the rope around his neck, he said that an innocent request was often granted to a poor criminal before he suffered death. Who acts: soldier, thrones. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Tinder-box, sentence 105

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The soldier already stood on the ladder; but as they were about to place the rope around his neck, he said that an innocent request was often granted to a poor criminal before he suffered death.

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**Who acts:** soldier, thrones · **What happens:** stand, be, say, grant, suffer · **To what, where:** ladder, place, innocent request, poor criminal, death · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Tinder-box. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (soldier, thrones), 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:pg27200:193:105
# text = The soldier already stood on the ladder; but as they were about to place the rope around his neck, he said that an innocent request was often granted to a poor criminal before he suffered death.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	already	already	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	ladder	ladder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
10	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	about	about	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	advcl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
18	around	around	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
25	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	innocent	innocent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	request	request	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux:pass	_	_
29	often	often	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	granted	grant	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	ccomp	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	criminal	criminal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
35	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	suffered	suffer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	advcl	_	_
38	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past | the soldier |  |  | the ladder |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on ladder=Location |
| 2 | **is a** | past | thrones *= throne* | place |  |  |  | the rope around soldier's neck *nmod*; about *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | soldier |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **grant** | past · passive |  | a innocent request |  |  |  | to a poor criminal *goal*; often *property* | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: subject=Theme to criminal=Goal |
| 5 | **suffer** | past | soldier | death |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer death=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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