---
title: "Squeak, squeak," said a little mouse, creeping cautiously towards t… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: "Squeak, squeak," said a little mouse, creeping cautiously towards the tree; then came another; and they both sniffed at the fir-tree and crept between the branches. Who acts: Squeak. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Fir Tree, with its dependency tree and
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Fir Tree, sentence 108

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Squeak, squeak," said a little mouse, creeping cautiously towards the tree; then came another; and they both sniffed at the fir-tree and crept between the branches.

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**Who acts:** Squeak · **What happens:** say, creep, come, sniff · **To what, where:** little mouse, tree, branches · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Fir Tree. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Squeak), 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:pg27200:33:108
# text = "Squeak, squeak," said a little mouse, creeping cautiously towards the tree; then came another; and they both sniffed at the fir-tree and crept between the branches.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Squeak	squeak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	squeak	squeak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	creeping	creep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
13	cautiously	cautiously	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	19	advmod	_	_
19	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
20	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	both	both	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	sniffed	sniff	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
26	at	at	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
28	fir	fir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	crept	creep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
33	between	between	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Squeak and squeak | a little mouse |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent mouse=Topic |
| 2 | **creep** | gerund | Squeak and squeak *not said here* |  |  | the tree |  | cautiously *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme towards tree=Destination |
| 3 | **come** | past |  |  |  |  | then |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **sniff** | past | Squeak |  |  |  |  | at the fir tree; both *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at tree=Theme |
| 5 | **creep** | past | Squeak *not said here* |  |  | the branches |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme between branch=Trajectory |

<!-- .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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