--- title: They had never heard such an account in their lives; and after they… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: They had never heard such an account in their lives; and after they had listened to it attentively, they said, "What a number of things you have seen? you must have been very happy." Who acts: birds, you. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Fir Tree, with it --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/33/116/) [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 Fir Tree](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/33/) / 116 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Fir Tree, sentence 116 They had never heard such an account in their lives; and after they had listened to it attentively, they said, "What a number of things you have seen? you must have been very happy." **Who acts:** birds, you · **What happens:** not hear, listen, say, see, be · **To what, where:** birds, lives, life, things · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (birds, you), 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:pg27200:33:116 # text = They had never heard such an account in their lives; and after they had listened to it attentively, they said, "What a number of things you have seen? you must have been very happy." 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj:pass _ _ 2 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 3 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 4 advmod _ _ 4 heard hear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 5 such such DET PDT PronType=Ind 7 det:predet _ _ 6 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 account account NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ _ 8 in in ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 10 nmod:poss _ _ 10 lives life NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 ; ; PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 13 after after SCONJ IN _ 16 mark _ _ 14 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 nsubj _ _ 15 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 aux _ _ 16 listened listen VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 4 conj _ _ 17 to to ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 18 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 obl _ _ 19 attentively attentively ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 21 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 22 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 24 " " PUNCT `` _ 25 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 25 What what PRON WP PronType=Int 22 obj _ _ 26 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 number number NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nsubj _ _ 28 of of ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 29 things thing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 nmod _ _ 30 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 31 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ _ 32 seen see VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 29 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 33 ? ? PUNCT . _ 25 punct _ _ 34 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 35 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 39 aux _ _ 36 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 39 aux _ _ 37 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 39 cop _ _ 38 very very ADV RB _ 39 advmod _ _ 39 happy happy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 40 . . PUNCT . _ 22 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 " " PUNCT '' _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **hear** | past · perfect · passive | | birds *= bird* | | birds's lives | | | tree rules | | 2 | **listen** | past · perfect | birds *= bird* | | life | | | attentively *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to it=Theme | | 3 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | birds *= bird* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic | | 4 | **see** *in a quote* | present · perfect | you | things *not said here* | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer thing=Stimulus | | 5 | **is** *in a quote* | must · perfect | you | | | | | happy *property* | tree rules | 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 115](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/33/115/) - next →: [sentence 117](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/33/117/) - ↑ back to [The Fir Tree](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/33/)