---
title: The messenger of Fortune had only transacted a few unimportant matte… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The messenger of Fortune had only transacted a few unimportant matters; for instance, she had preserved a new bonnet from a shower of rain, and obtained for an honest man a bow from a titled nobody, and so on; but she had something extraordinary to relate, after all. Who acts: few unimportant, Fortu
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, A Beginning, sentence 14

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The messenger of Fortune had only transacted a few unimportant matters; for instance, she had preserved a new bonnet from a shower of rain, and obtained for an honest man a bow from a titled nobody, and so on; but she had something extraordinary to relate, after all.

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**Who acts:** few unimportant, Fortune, something · **What happens:** transact, matter, preserve, obtain, title, have · **To what, where:** messenger, new bonnet, bow, nobody, something

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, A Beginning. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (few unimportant, Fortune, something), 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:pg27200:40:14
# text = The messenger of Fortune had only transacted a few unimportant matters; for instance, she had preserved a new bonnet from a shower of rain, and obtained for an honest man a bow from a titled nobody, and so on; but she had something extraordinary to relate, after all.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	messenger	messenger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Fortune	Fortune	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	transacted	transact	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	unimportant	unimportant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	nsubj	_	_
11	matters	matter	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	instance	instance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
16	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	preserved	preserve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	bonnet	bonnet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
22	from	from	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	shower	shower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	rain	rain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	obtained	obtain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
30	for	for	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	honest	honest	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	bow	bow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
36	from	from	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	titled	title	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	39	amod	_	_
39	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
42	so	so	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
43	on	on	ADV	RB	_	39	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
46	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
48	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	47	obj	_	_
49	extraordinary	extraordinary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
50	to	to	PART	TO	_	51	mark	_	_
51	relate	relate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
53	after	after	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **transact** | past · perfect · passive |  | the messenger of Fortune |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **matter** | present | a few unimportant |  |  |  |  |  | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **preserve** | past · perfect | Fortune | a new bonnet |  |  |  | for instance; from a shower of rain | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent bonnet=Beneficiary from shower=Theme |
| 4 | **obtain** | participle |  | a bow |  | nobody |  | for a honest man | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent bow=Theme for man=Asset |
| 5 | **title** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **have** | past | Fortune | something |  |  | after all |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Patient |
| 7 | **relate** | to-infinitive | something *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=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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