---
title: The one who stood first in the rank was named the thumb, he was shor… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The one who stood first in the rank was named the thumb, he was short and thick, and had only one joint in his back, and could therefore make but one bow; but he said that if he were cut off from a man's hand, that man would be unfit for a soldier. Who acts: one, knot, man. A sentence of «Fairy Tale
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Darning-needle, sentence 37

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The one who stood first in the rank was named the thumb, he was short and thick, and had only one joint in his back, and could therefore make but one bow; but he said that if he were cut off from a man's hand, that man would be unfit for a soldier.

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**Who acts:** one, knot, man · **What happens:** stand, name, be, have, make, say · **To what, where:** rank, one joint, back, knot, hand · **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 (one, knot, man), 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:pg27200:21:37
# text = The one who stood first in the rank was named the thumb, he was short and thick, and had only one joint in his back, and could therefore make but one bow; but he said that if he were cut off from a man's hand, that man would be unfit for a soldier.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	ccomp	_	_
3	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
4	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
5	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	advmod	_	_
6	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	rank	rank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	named	name	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	thumb	thumb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	conj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
22	only	only	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	24	nummod	_	_
24	joint	joint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
30	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	parataxis	_	_
33	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	35	nummod	_	_
35	bow	bow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	39	punct	_	_
37	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
38	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
40	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
41	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
42	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
43	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux:pass	_	_
44	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	39	ccomp	_	_
45	off	off	ADP	RP	_	44	compound:prt	_	_
46	from	from	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
47	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	's	's	PART	POS	_	48	case	_	_
50	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
52	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	53	det	_	_
53	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	nsubj	_	_
54	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	56	aux	_	_
55	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	cop	_	_
56	unfit	unfit	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	conj	_	_
57	for	for	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
58	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	39	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past | the one |  |  |  |  | first *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **name** | past · passive |  | the rank |  |  |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Theme thumb=Attribute |
| 3 | **is** | past | knot |  |  |  |  | short *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | knot *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **have** | past |  | one joint |  | knot's back |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent joint=Patient |
| 6 | **make** | could |  |  |  |  |  | therefore *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | knot |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **cut off** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · passive |  | knot |  | a man's hand |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP PP»: subject=Theme from hand=Initial\_Location |
| 9 | **is** | would | that man |  |  |  |  | for a soldier; unfit *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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