---
title: The servant, who cleaned his boots, thought they certainly were a sh… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The servant, who cleaned his boots, thought they certainly were a shabby pair to be worn by such a rich gentleman, for he had not yet bought any new ones. Who acts: servant, boots, rich gentleman, soldier. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Tinder-box, with
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Tinder-box, sentence 48

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The servant, who cleaned his boots, thought they certainly were a shabby pair to be worn by such a rich gentleman, for he had not yet bought any new ones.

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**Who acts:** servant, boots, rich gentleman, soldier · **What happens:** clean, think, be, wear, not buy · **To what, where:** boots, shabby pair, new ones · **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 (servant, boots, rich gentleman, soldier), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg27200:193:48
# text = The servant, who cleaned his boots, thought they certainly were a shabby pair to be worn by such a rich gentleman, for he had not yet bought any new ones.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	cleaned	clean	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	boots	boot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
11	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	shabby	shabby	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	pair	pair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	ccomp	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	worn	wear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	acl	_	_
19	by	by	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
20	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	23	det:predet	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	gentleman	gentleman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl:agent	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
25	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
27	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
29	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	bought	buy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	18	conj	_	_
31	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	33	det	_	_
32	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **clean** | past | the servant | soldier's boots |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent boot=Patient |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the servant *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | past | boots *= boot* | a shabby pair |  |  |  | certainly *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **wear** | to-infinitive · passive | such rich gentleman |  |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **not** **buy** | past · perfect | soldier | any new ones |  |  | yet |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=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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