---
title: The word had not yet been given to fall back, though they might have… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The word had not yet been given to fall back, though they might have done so, and perhaps there would have been much sense in it; and now at last the word "Retire" was given; but our little drummer beat "Forward! march!" for he had understood the command thus, and the soldiers obeyed the sound of th
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Golden Treasure, sentence 74

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The word had not yet been given to fall back, though they might have done so, and perhaps there would have been much sense in it; and now at last the word "Retire" was given; but our little drummer beat "Forward! march!" for he had understood the command thus, and the soldiers obeyed the sound of the drum.

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**Who acts:** bullets, Retire, soldiers · **What happens:** not give, fall back, do, be, give, understand · **To what, where:** word, much sense, last word, command, sound

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Golden Treasure. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bullets, Retire, soldiers), 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:pg27200:39:74
# text = The word had not yet been given to fall back, though they might have done so, and perhaps there would have been much sense in it; and now at last the word "Retire" was given; but our little drummer beat "Forward! march!" for he had understood the command thus, and the soldiers obeyed the sound of the drum.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
5	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
6	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
10	back	back	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	aux	_	_
16	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	_
17	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
20	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	26	advmod	_	_
22	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
23	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	aux	_	_
24	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	26	cop	_	_
25	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	sense	sense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	40	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
31	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	33	advmod	_	_
32	at	at	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nsubj:pass	_	_
36	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	Retire	Retire	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	37	punct	_	_
39	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	aux:pass	_	_
40	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	46	punct	_	_
42	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
43	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
44	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
45	drummer	drummer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	compound	_	_
46	beat	beat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	parataxis	_	_
47	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	48	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	Forward	forward	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	48	punct	_	_
50	march	march	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	50	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	50	punct	_	_
53	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	56	mark	_	_
54	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
55	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	56	aux	_	_
56	understood	understand	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	46	advcl	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	command	command	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obj	_	_
59	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	56	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	64	punct	_	_
61	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	64	cc	_	_
62	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
63	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	64	nsubj	_	_
64	obeyed	obey	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
65	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
66	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	obj	_	_
67	of	of	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
68	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	69	det	_	_
69	drum	drum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	66	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **give** | past · perfect · passive |  | the word |  |  | yet |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **fall back** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **do** | might · perfect | bullets *= bullet* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** | would · perfect |  | much sense |  | word; there |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **give** | past · passive |  | the last word |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 6 | **understand** | past · perfect | Retire | the command |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer command=Stimulus |
| 7 | **obey** | past | the soldiers | the sound of the drum |  |  |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sound=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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