--- title: "This is not a bad story," said the soldier; "but what am I to give… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: "This is not a bad story," said the soldier; "but what am I to give you, you old witch? for, of course, you do not mean to tell me all this for nothing." Who acts: This, soldier, you. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Tinder-box, with its dependency tree a --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/193/19/) [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 Tinder-box](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/193/) / 19 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Tinder-box, sentence 19 "This is not a bad story," said the soldier; "but what am I to give you, you old witch? for, of course, you do not mean to tell me all this for nothing." **Who acts:** This, soldier, you · **What happens:** not be, say, give, witch, not mean, tell · **To what, where:** bad story, you, this, soldier · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (This, soldier, you), 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:pg27200:193:19 # text = "This is not a bad story," said the soldier; "but what am I to give you, you old witch? for, of course, you do not mean to tell me all this for nothing." 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 7 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 This this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 7 nsubj _ _ 3 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 7 cop _ _ 4 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 7 advmod _ _ 5 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 6 bad bad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 story story NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 9 " " PUNCT '' _ 7 punct _ _ 10 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 soldier soldier NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 ; ; PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 14 " " PUNCT `` _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 but but CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 16 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 20 obj _ _ 17 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 20 aux _ _ 18 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 19 to to PART TO _ 20 mark _ _ 20 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 ccomp _ _ 21 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 20 iobj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 23 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 24 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 25 witch witch NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 26 ? ? PUNCT . _ 10 punct _ _ 27 for for ADP IN _ 10 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 29 of of ADP IN ExtPos=ADV 35 advmod _ _ 30 course course NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 fixed _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 32 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 33 do do AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 35 aux _ _ 34 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 35 advmod _ _ 35 mean mean VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 ccomp _ _ 36 to to PART TO _ 37 mark _ _ 37 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 35 xcomp _ _ 38 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 37 iobj _ _ 39 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 40 det:predet _ _ 40 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 37 obj _ _ 41 for for ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 35 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 44 " " PUNCT '' _ 35 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **is a** *in a quote* | present | This | a bad story | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | the soldier | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **give** *in a quote* | present | the soldier *= soldier* | | you | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient what=Theme | | 4 | **witch** *in a quote* | | you | | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **not** **mean** *in a quote* | present · do-support | you | | | | | | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | this | the soldier *= soldier* | | | for nothing | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient this=Topic | 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 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/193/18/) - next →: [sentence 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/193/20/) - ↑ back to [The Tinder-box](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/193/)