---
title: The idea struck him that he should very much like to have such a pai… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The idea struck him that he should very much like to have such a pair of spectacles; for, if used rightly, they would perhaps enable him to see into the hearts of people, which he thought would be more interesting than to know what was going to happen next year; for future events would be sure to sh
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Eventful Moment--a Most Unusual Journey, sentence 35

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The idea struck him that he should very much like to have such a pair of spectacles; for, if used rightly, they would perhaps enable him to see into the hearts of people, which he thought would be more interesting than to know what was going to happen next year; for future events would be sure to show themselves, but the hearts of people never. "

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** idea, Spectacles, Hospital, people, future events · **What happens:** not strike, have, use, enable, see, think · **To what, where:** Hospital, pair, hearts, events · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Eventful Moment--a Most Unusual Journey. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (idea, Spectacles, Hospital, people), 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:pg27200:43:35
# text = The idea struck him that he should very much like to have such a pair of spectacles; for, if used rightly, they would perhaps enable him to see into the hearts of people, which he thought would be more interesting than to know what was going to happen next year; for future events would be sure to show themselves, but the hearts of people never. "
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	struck	strike	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
7	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
8	very	very	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	much	much	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
10	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
13	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	15	det:predet	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	pair	pair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	spectacles	spectacle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	28	punct	_	_
19	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
22	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	advcl	_	_
23	rightly	rightly	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
26	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	enable	enable	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	csubj	_	_
29	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
32	into	into	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	hearts	heart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
38	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	40	nsubj	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	acl:relcl	_	_
41	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
42	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	cop	_	_
43	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	44	advmod	_	_
44	interesting	interesting	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
45	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
46	to	to	PART	TO	_	47	mark	_	_
47	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	csubj	_	_
48	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	50	nsubj	_	_
49	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
50	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	47	ccomp	_	_
51	to	to	PART	TO	_	52	mark	_	_
52	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	xcomp	_	_
53	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	61	punct	_	_
56	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	61	mark	_	_
57	future	future	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	events	event	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	61	nsubj	_	_
59	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	61	aux	_	_
60	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	61	cop	_	_
61	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
62	to	to	PART	TO	_	63	mark	_	_
63	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	61	xcomp	_	_
64	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	63	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	68	punct	_	_
66	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	68	cc	_	_
67	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	68	det	_	_
68	hearts	heart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
69	of	of	ADP	IN	_	70	case	_	_
70	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	68	nmod	_	_
71	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
73	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **strike** | past | the idea | Hospital |  |  |  | the hearts of people *obl* | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent he=Instrument |
| 2 | **have** | should | idea | such pair of spectacles |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pair=Patient |
| 3 | **use** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle | Spectacles *= spectacle* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | rightly *property* | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **enable** | would | Spectacles *= spectacle* | Hospital |  |  |  | perhaps *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **see** | to-infinitive | Hospital *not said here* |  |  | the hearts of people |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **think** *speech: other* | past | people |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is** | would |  |  |  |  |  | interesting *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **know** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 9 | **go** | past · progressive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 10 | **happen** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  | year |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 11 | **is** | would | future events |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | tree rules |
| 12 | **show** | to-infinitive | future events *not said here* | events *= event* |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent themselves=Recipient |

<!-- .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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