---
title: "I know who he is," said an old raven, who sat on the fence, and was… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: "I know who he is," said an old raven, who sat on the fence, and was condescending enough to acknowledge that we are all equal in the sight of Heaven, even as little birds, and therefore he talked with the sparrows, and gave them the information they wanted. " Who acts: old raven, man, we, sparrows.
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Story of the Year, sentence 45

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"I know who he is," said an old raven, who sat on the fence, and was condescending enough to acknowledge that we are all equal in the sight of Heaven, even as little birds, and therefore he talked with the sparrows, and gave them the information they wanted. "

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**Who acts:** old raven, man, we, sparrows · **What happens:** know, be, say, sit, acknowledge, talk · **To what, where:** fence, sight, information, sparrows, Heaven · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Story of the Year. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old raven, man, we, sparrows), 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:pg27200:214:45
# text = "I know who he is," said an old raven, who sat on the fence, and was condescending enough to acknowledge that we are all equal in the sight of Heaven, even as little birds, and therefore he talked with the sparrows, and gave them the information they wanted. "
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	obj	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	raven	raven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
15	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	_
16	on	on	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	fence	fence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
22	condescending	condescending	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	conj	_	_
23	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	acknowledge	acknowledge	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	csubj	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
27	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
28	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
29	all	all	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	equal	equal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	ccomp	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	Heaven	Heaven	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
37	even	even	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
38	as	as	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
43	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
44	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	talked	talk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
46	with	with	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	sparrows	sparrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
51	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
52	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	iobj	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	information	information	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	_
55	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
56	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
58	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** *in a quote* | present | a old raven *= raven* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **be** *in a quote* | present | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot who=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | a old raven |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **sit** | past | a old raven |  |  | the fence |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on fence=Location |
| 5 | **is** | past | a old raven *not said here* |  |  |  |  | condescending, enough *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **acknowledge** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is** | present | we |  |  | the sight of Heaven |  | all, equal *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **talk** | past | man |  |  |  |  | with the sparrows; therefore *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with sparrow=Co-Agent |
| 9 | **give** | past | a old raven *not said here* | the information | sparrows *= sparrow* |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient information=Theme |
| 10 | **want** | past | sparrows *= sparrow* | the information *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot information=Theme |
| 11 | **sight** |  |  | Heaven |  |  |  |  | nom sight «cognition 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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