---
title: Past! past!" said the old tree; "Oh, had I but enjoyed myself while… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Past! past!" said the old tree; "Oh, had I but enjoyed myself while I could have done so! but now it is too late." Who acts: past, I. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Fir Tree, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Fir Tree, sentence 151

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Past! past!" said the old tree; "Oh, had I but enjoyed myself while I could have done so! but now it is too late."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** past, I · **What happens:** say, have, enjoy, do, be · **To what, where:** old tree, I, myself · **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 (past, I), 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:pg27200:33:151
# text = Past! past!" said the old tree; "Oh, had I but enjoyed myself while I could have done so! but now it is too late."
1	Past	past	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
3	past	past	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	Oh	oh	INTJ	UH	_	14	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
14	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	enjoyed	enjoy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
18	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	17	obj	_	_
19	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	aux	_	_
23	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
27	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	31	advmod	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
30	too	too	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | past | the old tree |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past |  | I |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Patient |
| 3 | **enjoy** | past |  | myself |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer myself=Stimulus |
| 4 | **do** | could · perfect | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** | present | past |  |  |  | now | late *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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