---
title: It is said that the boys are ill-bred, forward lads, but perhaps tha… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: It is said that the boys are ill-bred, forward lads, but perhaps that is not quite correct, and they will become better as they grow older. Who acts: that, boys. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Elfin Hill, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Elfin Hill, sentence 36

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is said that the boys are ill-bred, forward lads, but perhaps that is not quite correct, and they will become better as they grow older.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** that, boys · **What happens:** say, breed, not be, become, grow · **To what, where:** chalk, boys · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Elfin Hill. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (that, boys), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg27200:31:36
# text = It is said that the boys are ill-bred, forward lads, but perhaps that is not quite correct, and they will become better as they grow older.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
8	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	bred	breed	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	forward	forward	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	lads	lad	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
16	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
17	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	nsubj	_	_
18	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
20	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	correct	correct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
27	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	26	xcomp	_	_
28	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
31	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	30	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · passive |  | chalk |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **breed** | present · passive |  | the boys |  |  |  | forward lads *obl* | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **is** | present | that |  |  |  |  | correct, perhaps *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **become** | future | boys *= boy* |  |  |  |  | good *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **grow** | present | boys *= boy* |  |  |  |  | old *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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