---
title: He found the tinder-box, but no sooner had he struck a few sparks fr… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: He found the tinder-box, but no sooner had he struck a few sparks from the flint and steel, than the door flew open and the dog with eyes as big as teacups, whom he had seen while down in the tree, stood before him, and said, "What orders, master?" Who acts: soldier, door. A sentence of «Fairy Tales
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Tinder-box, sentence 60

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He found the tinder-box, but no sooner had he struck a few sparks from the flint and steel, than the door flew open and the dog with eyes as big as teacups, whom he had seen while down in the tree, stood before him, and said, "What orders, master?"

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**Who acts:** soldier, door · **What happens:** find, have, strike, fly, see down, stand · **To what, where:** tinder box, few sparks, flint, teacups, tree, master · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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, door), 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:pg27200:193:60
# text = He found the tinder-box, but no sooner had he struck a few sparks from the flint and steel, than the door flew open and the dog with eyes as big as teacups, whom he had seen while down in the tree, stood before him, and said, "What orders, master?"
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	tinder	tinder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	box	box	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	10	det	_	_
10	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	11	advmod	_	_
11	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	struck	strike	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	ccomp	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	sparks	spark	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
17	from	from	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	flint	flint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	steel	steel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
26	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
27	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	xcomp	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
31	with	with	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	_
33	as	as	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	conj	_	_
35	as	as	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	teacups	teacup	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
38	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	41	obj	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
40	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	36	acl	_	_
42	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
43	down	down	ADV	RB	_	41	compound:prt	_	_
44	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
48	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
49	before	before	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
50	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
53	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
55	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	57	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	57	nsubj	_	_
57	orders	order	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	53	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
59	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	57	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	57	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | past | soldier | the tinder box |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent box=Topic |
| 2 | **have** | past | soldier *not said here* |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **strike** | past | soldier | a few sparks |  | the flint and steel |  |  | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spark=Patient |
| 4 | **fly** | past | the door |  |  |  |  | open *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **see down** | past · perfect | soldier | teacups |  | the tree |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer whom=Stimulus |
| 6 | **stand** | past | the door *not said here* |  |  |  | before soldier |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before he=Location |
| 7 | **say** *speech: ask* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **order** *in a quote* | present |  | master |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent master=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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