--- title: "I believe," replied the man, "that one could tell quite a romance a… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: "I believe," replied the man, "that one could tell quite a romance about the Will-o'-the-Wisps, in twelve parts; or, better still, one might make quite a popular play of them." Who acts: man, one, Wisps. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Will-o-the Wisp Is --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/211/213/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/) / [The Will-o-the Wisp Is in the Town, Sa…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/211/) / 213 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Will-o-the Wisp Is in the Town, Says the Moor Woman, sentence 213 "I believe," replied the man, "that one could tell quite a romance about the Will-o'-the-Wisps, in twelve parts; or, better still, one might make quite a popular play of them." **Who acts:** man, one, Wisps · **What happens:** believe, reply, tell, make, play · **To what, where:** romance, popular play · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Will-o-the Wisp Is in the Town, Says the Moor Woman. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, one, Wisps), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg27200:211:213 # text = "I believe," replied the man, "that one could tell quite a romance about the Will-o'-the-Wisps, in twelve parts; or, better still, one might make quite a popular play of them." 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 believe believe VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 6 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 5 " " PUNCT '' _ 6 punct _ _ 6 replied reply VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 10 " " PUNCT `` _ 14 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 11 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 12 det _ _ 12 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nsubj _ _ 13 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 14 aux _ _ 14 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 8 acl:relcl _ _ 15 quite quite DET PDT PronType=Ind 17 det:predet _ _ 16 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 romance romance NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obj _ _ 18 about about ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 20 Will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 31 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 21 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 22 o of ADP IN Abbr=Yes 31 case _ SpaceAfter=No 23 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 24 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 27 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ SpaceAfter=No 26 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 25 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 27 Wisps Wisp PROPN NNPS Number=Plur 31 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 29 in in ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 30 twelve twelve NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 31 nummod _ _ 31 parts part NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 32 ; ; PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 33 or or CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 35 better well ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 36 advmod _ _ 36 still still ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 38 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 40 nsubj _ _ 39 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 40 aux _ _ 40 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 conj _ _ 41 quite quite DET PDT PronType=Ind 44 det:predet _ _ 42 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 43 popular popular ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 amod _ _ 44 play play NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obj _ _ 45 of of ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 46 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 44 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 48 " " PUNCT '' _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **believe** *in a quote* | present | the man *= man* | | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer | | 2 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the man | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | could | that one | quite romance | | | | about the twelve parts | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent romance=Recipient about part=Topic | | 4 | **make** *in a quote* | might | one | quite popular play of Wisps | | | still | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset play=Product | | 5 | **play** *in a quote* | | Wisps *= wisp* | | | | | | nom play «communication intransitive»: of=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 212](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/211/212/) - next →: [sentence 214](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/211/214/) - ↑ back to [The Will-o-the Wisp Is in the Town, Says the Moor Woman](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/211/)