---
title: When he read about Jacob dressing himself in sheep-skins to personif… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: When he read about Jacob dressing himself in sheep-skins to personify Esau, and so to usurp his brother's birthright, he would clench his little fist in anger against the deceiver; when he read of tyrants and of the injustice and wickedness of the world, tears would come into his eyes, and he was qu
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Two Brothers, sentence 14

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When he read about Jacob dressing himself in sheep-skins to personify Esau, and so to usurp his brother's birthright, he would clench his little fist in anger against the deceiver; when he read of tyrants and of the injustice and wickedness of the world, tears would come into his eyes, and he was quite filled with the thought of the justice and truth which must and would triumph.

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**Who acts:** truth, tears · **What happens:** read, dress, personify, usurp, clench, come · **To what, where:** truth, Esau, birthright, little fist, eyes, justice

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Two Brothers. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (truth, tears), 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:pg27200:199:14
# text = When he read about Jacob dressing himself in sheep-skins to personify Esau, and so to usurp his brother's birthright, he would clench his little fist in anger against the deceiver; when he read of tyrants and of the injustice and wickedness of the world, tears would come into his eyes, and he was quite filled with the thought of the justice and truth which must and would triumph.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	read	read	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	about	about	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	Jacob	Jacob	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	dressing	dress	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
7	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	6	obj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	skins	skin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	personify	personify	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
14	Esau	Esau	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	so	so	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	usurp	usurp	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	's	's	PART	POS	_	21	case	_	_
23	birthright	birthright	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	clench	clench	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
29	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	fist	fist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	anger	anger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
33	against	against	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	deceiver	deceiver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	39	punct	_	_
37	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	39	advmod	_	_
38	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	read	read	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	tyrants	tyrant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	injustice	injustice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	conj	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	wickedness	wickedness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	conj	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
52	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	nsubj	_	_
53	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
54	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	conj	_	_
55	into	into	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	57	nmod:poss	_	_
57	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	63	punct	_	_
59	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	63	cc	_	_
60	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	63	nsubj	_	_
61	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	63	aux:pass	_	_
62	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	63	advmod	_	_
63	filled	fill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
64	with	with	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
65	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
66	thought	thought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	63	obl	_	_
67	of	of	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
68	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	69	det	_	_
69	justice	justice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	66	nmod	_	_
70	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	71	cc	_	_
71	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	69	conj	_	_
72	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	73	nsubj	_	_
73	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	69	acl:relcl	_	_
74	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	76	cc	_	_
75	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	76	aux	_	_
76	triumph	triumph	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	63	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
77	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **read** | past | truth |  |  |  |  | about Jacob | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about jacob=Topic |
| 2 | **dress** | gerund | truth *not said here* | truth |  |  |  | in sheep and skins | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Patient |
| 3 | **personify** | to-infinitive | truth *not said here* | Esau |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **usurp** | to-infinitive |  | truth's brother's birthright |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **clench** | would | truth | truth's little fist |  |  |  | in anger against the deceiver | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: agent=Agent fist=Patient in anger=Topic |
| 6 | **read** | past | truth |  |  |  |  | of tyrants and the injustice and wickedness of the world | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent of tyrant=Topic |
| 7 | **come** | would | tears |  |  | truth's eyes |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into eye=Initial\_Location |
| 8 | **fill** | past · passive |  | truth |  |  |  | with the thought of the justice and truth | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with thought=Instrument |
| 9 | **think** |  |  | the justice and truth |  |  |  |  | nom thought «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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