---
title: If he struck the flint once, the dog who sat on the chest of copper… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: If he struck the flint once, the dog who sat on the chest of copper money made his appearance; if twice, the dog came from the chest of silver; and if three times, the dog with eyes like towers, who watched over the gold. Who acts: soldier, dog, copper money, towers. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Ha
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Tinder-box, sentence 65

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If he struck the flint once, the dog who sat on the chest of copper money made his appearance; if twice, the dog came from the chest of silver; and if three times, the dog with eyes like towers, who watched over the gold.

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**Who acts:** soldier, dog, copper money, towers · **What happens:** strike, sit, make, come, watch · **To what, where:** flint, chest, appearance, gold

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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, dog, copper money, towers), 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:pg27200:193:65
# text = If he struck the flint once, the dog who sat on the chest of copper money made his appearance; if twice, the dog came from the chest of silver; and if three times, the dog with eyes like towers, who watched over the gold.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	struck	strike	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	flint	flint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
10	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
11	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	chest	chest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	copper	copper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
18	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	acl	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	appearance	appearance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
22	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
23	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	27	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
28	from	from	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	chest	chest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
35	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
36	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	37	nummod	_	_
37	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	appos	_	_
41	with	with	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nmod	_	_
43	like	like	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	towers	tower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
46	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	47	nsubj	_	_
47	watched	watch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	acl:relcl	_	_
48	over	over	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **strike** | past | soldier | the flint |  |  | time | the dog *obl*; once *property* | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flint=Patient |
| 2 | **sit** | past | the dog |  |  | the chest of copper money |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on chest=Location |
| 3 | **make** | participle | copper money *not said here* | soldier's appearance |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset appearance=Product |
| 4 | **come** | past | the dog |  |  | the chest of silver |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from chest=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **watch** | past | towers |  |  | the gold |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over gold=Location |

<!-- .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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