---
title: I am too fine for this world," said the darning-needle, as she lay i… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: I am too fine for this world," said the darning-needle, as she lay in the gutter; "but I know who I am, and that is always some comfort." Who acts: I, needle, that. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Darning-needle, with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Darning-needle, sentence 17

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I am too fine for this world," said the darning-needle, as she lay in the gutter; "but I know who I am, and that is always some comfort."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, needle, that · **What happens:** be, say, lie, know · **To what, where:** darning needle, gutter, comfort · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Darning-needle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, needle, that), 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:pg27200:21:17
# text = I am too fine for this world," said the darning-needle, as she lay in the gutter; "but I know who I am, and that is always some comfort."
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	darning	darning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	needle	needle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	gutter	gutter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
27	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	26	ccomp	_	_
28	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
29	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
32	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	36	nsubj	_	_
33	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
34	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	36	advmod	_	_
35	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	36	det	_	_
36	comfort	comfort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | for this world; fine *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past |  | the darning needle |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent needle=Topic |
| 3 | **lie** *in a quote* | past | needle |  |  | the gutter |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in gutter=Location |
| 4 | **know** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **is a** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **is a** | present | that | some comfort |  |  |  | always *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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