---
title: But the little Toads kicked up their hind legs from mere pride, for… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: But the little Toads kicked up their hind legs from mere pride, for each of them thought that he must have the jewel; and then they sat and held their heads quite still. Who acts: little Toads, each, Toad, Frogs. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Toad, wit
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Toad, sentence 15

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the little Toads kicked up their hind legs from mere pride, for each of them thought that he must have the jewel; and then they sat and held their heads quite still.

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**Who acts:** little Toads, each, Toad, Frogs · **What happens:** kick up, think, have, sit, hold · **To what, where:** hind legs, jewel, heads · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Toad. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (little Toads, each, Toad, Frogs), 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:pg27200:194:15
# text = But the little Toads kicked up their hind legs from mere pride, for each of them thought that he must have the jewel; and then they sat and held their heads quite still.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	Toads	toad	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	kicked	kick	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	hind	hind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	mere	mere	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	pride	pride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	18	nsubj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nmod	_	_
18	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	ccomp	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	jewel	jewel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
27	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	29	advmod	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	conj	_	_
32	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obj	_	_
34	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	still	still	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kick up** | past | the little Toads | Frogs's hind legs |  |  |  | from mere pride | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent leg=Patient from pride=Co-Patient |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | each |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **have** | must | Toad | the jewel |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent jewel=Patient |
| 4 | **sit** | past | Frogs *= frog* |  |  |  | then |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **hold** | past | Frogs *= frog* *not said here* | Frogs's heads |  |  | still |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=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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