---
title: They were not very handsome trees, for the tops had been cut off; ho… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: They were not very handsome trees, for the tops had been cut off; however, they were intended for use, and not for show. Who acts: parents. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Under the Willow-tree, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Under the Willow-tree, part 1, sentence 15

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were not very handsome trees, for the tops had been cut off; however, they were intended for use, and not for show.

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**Who acts:** parents · **What happens:** not be, cut off, intend · **To what, where:** handsome trees, parents

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Under the Willow-tree, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (parents), 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:pg27200:202:15
# text = They were not very handsome trees, for the tops had been cut off; however, they were intended for use, and not for show.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	handsome	handsome	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	tops	top	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
14	off	off	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
16	however	however	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
19	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	intended	intend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	conj	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	show	show	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** | past | parents *= parent* | handsome trees and the tops |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **cut off** | past · perfect · passive |  | handsome trees and the tops |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=Eventuality |
| 3 | **intend** | past · passive |  | parents *= parent* |  |  |  | for use; for show; however *property* | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |

<!-- .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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