---
title: The volunteer had, however, presence of mind enough to whisper, "It… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The volunteer had, however, presence of mind enough to whisper, "It is for a wager;" but the first thing he did, when he reached his own room, was to put a large blister on his neck, and another on his back, that his crazy fit might be cured. Who acts: volunteer, presence, Ho, first thing. A sentenc
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Eventful Moment--a Most Unusual Journey, sentence 64

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The volunteer had, however, presence of mind enough to whisper, "It is for a wager;" but the first thing he did, when he reached his own room, was to put a large blister on his neck, and another on his back, that his crazy fit might be cured.

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**Who acts:** volunteer, presence, Ho, first thing · **What happens:** have, whisper, be, do, reach, cure · **To what, where:** presence, first thing, own room, neck, another · **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 (volunteer, presence, Ho, first thing), 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:pg27200:43:64
# text = The volunteer had, however, presence of mind enough to whisper, "It is for a wager;" but the first thing he did, when he reached his own room, was to put a large blister on his neck, and another on his back, that his crazy fit might be cured.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	volunteer	volunteer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	however	however	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	presence	presence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
10	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	whisper	whisper	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
16	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	wager	wager	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	25	amod	_	_
25	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj:outer	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	31	mark	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	parataxis	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
33	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	blister	blister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	_
42	on	on	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
47	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	58	nsubj:pass	_	_
48	on	on	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
50	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
52	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
53	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nmod:poss	_	_
54	crazy	crazy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
55	fit	fit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nsubj:pass	_	_
56	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
57	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	58	aux:pass	_	_
58	cured	cure	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the volunteer | presence of mind |  |  |  | enough *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent presence=Patient |
| 2 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | the volunteer *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | presence |  |  |  |  | for a wager | tree rules |
| 4 | **do** | past | Ho | the first thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality |
| 5 | **reach** | past | Ho | Ho's own room |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent room=Theme |
| 6 | **is** | past | the first thing |  |  | Ho's neck |  | put *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **cure** | might · passive |  | another |  |  |  |  | vn free-10.6.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Source |

<!-- .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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