---
title: In fact, this memory of the soul is a fearful thing; every sin, ever… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: In fact, this memory of the soul is a fearful thing; every sin, every sinful thought it can bring back, and we may well ask how we are to give account of "every idle word" that may have been whispered in the heart or uttered with the lips. Who acts: memory, sinful, we. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Watchman's Adventures, sentence 72

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In fact, this memory of the soul is a fearful thing; every sin, every sinful thought it can bring back, and we may well ask how we are to give account of "every idle word" that may have been whispered in the heart or uttered with the lips.

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**Who acts:** memory, sinful, we · **What happens:** be, think, bring back, ask, give, whisper · **To what, where:** fearful thing, fact, account, that, heart, idle word · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Watchman's Adventures. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (memory, sinful, we), 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:pg27200:42:72
# text = In fact, this memory of the soul is a fearful thing; every sin, every sinful thought it can bring back, and we may well ask how we are to give account of "every idle word" that may have been whispered in the heart or uttered with the lips.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	det	_	_
5	memory	memory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	soul	soul	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	fearful	fearful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
14	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	det	_	_
15	sin	sin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	18	det	_	_
18	sinful	sinful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	nsubj	_	_
19	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	ccomp	_	_
23	back	back	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
26	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
27	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	29	advmod	_	_
29	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
30	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	32	advmod	_	_
31	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	xcomp	_	_
35	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
37	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	40	det	_	_
39	idle	idle	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	40	punct	_	_
42	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	46	nsubj:pass	_	_
43	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
44	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	aux	_	_
45	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	46	aux:pass	_	_
46	whispered	whisper	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	40	parataxis	_	_
47	in	in	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
50	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
51	uttered	utter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	46	conj	_	_
52	with	with	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	lips	lip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | this memory of the soul | a fearful thing and every sin |  | fact |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | every sinful |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **bring back** | can | memory |  |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | may | we |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **be** | present | we |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **give** | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | account of every idle word |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent account=Theme |
| 7 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | may · perfect · passive |  | that |  | the heart |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
| 8 | **utter** *speech: other* | participle |  |  |  |  |  | with the lips | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **account** |  |  | every idle word |  |  |  |  | nom account «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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