--- title: "Do leave off those dismal strains," said the parrot; "sing somethin… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: "Do leave off those dismal strains," said the parrot; "sing something to make us laugh; laughter is the sign of the highest order of intellect. Who acts: parrot, us, laughter. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Clerk's Transformation, with its dependency tr --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/44/135/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/) / [The Clerk's Transformation](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/44/) / 135 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Clerk's Transformation, sentence 135 "Do leave off those dismal strains," said the parrot; "sing something to make us laugh; laughter is the sign of the highest order of intellect. **Who acts:** parrot, us, laughter · **What happens:** leave off, say, sing, make, laugh, be · **To what, where:** dismal strains, something, us, sign, intellect · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Clerk's Transformation. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (parrot, us, laughter), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg27200:44:135 # text = "Do leave off those dismal strains," said the parrot; "sing something to make us laugh; laughter is the sign of the highest order of intellect. 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Do do AUX VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ _ 3 leave leave VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 ccomp _ _ 4 off off ADP RP _ 3 compound:prt _ _ 5 those that DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 7 det _ _ 6 dismal dismal ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 strains strain NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 9 " " PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ 10 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 parrot parrot NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 ; ; PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 14 " " PUNCT `` _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 sing sing VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 parataxis _ _ 16 something something PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 15 obj _ _ 17 to to PART TO _ 18 mark _ _ 18 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 acl _ _ 19 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 18 obj _ _ 20 laugh laugh VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 18 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 21 ; ; PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 22 laughter laughter NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nsubj _ _ 23 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 25 cop _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 sign sign NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 conj _ _ 26 of of ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 28 highest high ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 29 amod _ _ 29 order order NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nmod _ _ 30 of of ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 31 intellect intellect NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 32 . . PUNCT . _ 10 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **leave off** *in a quote* | infinitive · do-support | | that dismal strains | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent strain=Theme | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the parrot | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **sing** *speech: express* *in a quote* | infinitive | | something | | | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location something=Theme | | 4 | **make** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | | us | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **laugh** *in a quote* | infinitive | us *not said here* | | | | | | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | laughter | the sign | | | | of the highest order of intellect | tree rules | | 7 | **order** *in a quote* | | | intellect | | | | | nom order «communication transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 134](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/44/134/) - next →: [sentence 136](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/44/136/) - ↑ back to [The Clerk's Transformation](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/44/)