---
title: Then she asked so many questions about Knud's parents, and everythin… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Then she asked so many questions about Knud's parents, and everything, even to the elder-tree and the willow, which she called "elder-mother and willow-father," as if they had been human beings; and so, indeed, they might be, quite as much as the gingerbread cakes. Who acts: girl, questions. A sente
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Under the Willow-tree, part 1, sentence 82

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then she asked so many questions about Knud's parents, and everything, even to the elder-tree and the willow, which she called "elder-mother and willow-father," as if they had been human beings; and so, indeed, they might be, quite as much as the gingerbread cakes.

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**Who acts:** girl, questions · **What happens:** ask, call, be · **To what, where:** many questions, elder tree, human beings · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (girl, questions), 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:pg27200:202:82
# text = Then she asked so many questions about Knud's parents, and everything, even to the elder-tree and the willow, which she called "elder-mother and willow-father," as if they had been human beings; and so, indeed, they might be, quite as much as the gingerbread cakes.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	so	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	questions	question	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	Knud	Knud	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	even	even	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
18	elder	elder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	willow	willow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	27	obj	_	_
26	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
28	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	elder	elder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	xcomp	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
33	willow	willow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	35	punct	_	_
38	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
39	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
40	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
41	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
42	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	44	cop	_	_
43	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	beings	being	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	47	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	so	so	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
49	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
51	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	nsubj	_	_
52	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	57	aux	_	_
53	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
55	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
56	as	as	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
57	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
58	as	as	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
60	gingerbread	gingerbread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	compound	_	_
61	cakes	cake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	57	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | girl | many questions |  |  | then | about Knud's parents; to the elder tree and the willow; everything *obl* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP PP.topic»: agent=Agent question=Recipient about parent=Topic |
| 2 | **call** | past | girl | the elder tree and the willow |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent which=Recipient |
| 3 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | questions *= question* | human beings |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | might | questions *= question* |  |  |  |  | as the gingerbread cakes; much *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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