---
title: Then she pushed a green leaf, or a little scrap of paper towards the… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Then she pushed a green leaf, or a little scrap of paper towards their feet, and when the poor creatures would seize it and hold it fast, and turn over and over in their struggles to get free from the pin, she would say, "The cockchafer is reading; see how he turns over the leaf." Who acts: child, p
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then she pushed a green leaf, or a little scrap of paper towards their feet, and when the poor creatures would seize it and hold it fast, and turn over and over in their struggles to get free from the pin, she would say, "The cockchafer is reading; see how he turns over the leaf."

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**Who acts:** child, poor creatures, cockchafer, Inge, pins · **What happens:** push, seize, hold, turn, get, say · **To what, where:** green leaf, feet, leaf, struggles · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (child, poor creatures, cockchafer, Inge), 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:pg27200:37:5
# text = Then she pushed a green leaf, or a little scrap of paper towards their feet, and when the poor creatures would seize it and hold it fast, and turn over and over in their struggles to get free from the pin, she would say, "The cockchafer is reading; see how he turns over the leaf."
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	pushed	push	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	scrap	scrap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	paper	paper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
14	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
19	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	24	advmod	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	creatures	creature	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
23	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	seize	seize	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	conj	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	turn	turn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|Typo=Yes|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
33	over	over	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	over	over	ADV	RB	_	33	conj	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	struggles	struggle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	advcl	_	_
41	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	xcomp	_	_
42	from	from	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	pin	pin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
46	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
47	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
50	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	54	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	cockchafer	cockchafer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nsubj	_	_
53	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
54	reading	read	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	48	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
56	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	conj	_	_
57	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	59	advmod	_	_
58	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	nsubj	_	_
59	turns	turn	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	56	ccomp	_	_
60	over	over	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
61	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
62	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **push** | past | child | a green leaf |  | pins's feet | then | a little scrap of paper *obl* | vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent leaf=Theme towards foot=Trajectory |
| 2 | **seize** | would | the poor creatures | leaf |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 3 | **hold** | infinitive | the poor creatures *not said here* | leaf |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 4 | **turn** | present | child *not said here* |  |  | pins's struggles |  | over *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme in struggle=Trajectory |
| 5 | **get** | to-infinitive | child *not said here* |  |  |  |  | free *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | would | child |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **read** *in a quote* | present · progressive | the cockchafer |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **see** *in a quote* | infinitive | child *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 9 | **turn** *in a quote* | present | Inge |  |  | the leaf |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme over leaf=Trajectory |
| 10 | **struggle** |  | pins *= pin* |  |  |  |  |  | nom struggle «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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