---
title: But in spite of his clever head, the builder was still but a poor, i… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: But in spite of his clever head, the builder was still but a poor, inferior bird; and how can a sparrow expect to be admitted into the society of peacocks? Who acts: builder, sparrow. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Story of the Wind, with its dependency
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Story of the Wind, sentence 56

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But in spite of his clever head, the builder was still but a poor, inferior bird; and how can a sparrow expect to be admitted into the society of peacocks?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** builder, sparrow · **What happens:** be, expect, admit, spite · **To what, where:** poor inferior bird, spite, society, clever head

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Story of the Wind. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (builder, sparrow), 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:pg27200:212:56
# text = But in spite of his clever head, the builder was still but a poor, inferior bird; and how can a sparrow expect to be admitted into the society of peacocks?
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	spite	spite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	builder	builder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
12	still	still	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
15	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
17	inferior	inferior	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
21	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
22	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	sparrow	sparrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	expect	expect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	parataxis	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
27	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	aux:pass	_	_
28	admitted	admit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	xcomp	_	_
29	into	into	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	society	society	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	peacocks	peacock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the builder | a poor inferior bird |  | spite of castle's clever head | still |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **expect** | can | a sparrow |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **admit** *speech: other* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive · passive | a sparrow *not said here* |  |  | the society of peacocks |  |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V how S» |
| 4 | **spite** |  |  | castle's clever head |  |  |  |  | nom spite «feeling transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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