---
title: Let us be men now," said he, involuntarily imitating the parrot; and… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Let us be men now," said he, involuntarily imitating the parrot; and at the same moment he became a clerk again, only that he was sitting on the table. " Who acts: man. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Clerk's Transformation, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Clerk's Transformation, sentence 148

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Let us be men now," said he, involuntarily imitating the parrot; and at the same moment he became a clerk again, only that he was sitting on the table. "

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** man · **What happens:** let, be, say, imitate, become, sit · **To what, where:** us, men, parrot, clerk, table · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (man), 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:pg27200:44:148
# text = Let us be men now," said he, involuntarily imitating the parrot; and at the same moment he became a clerk again, only that he was sitting on the table. "
1	Let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
2	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
5	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	1	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	involuntarily	involuntarily	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	imitating	imitate	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	parrot	parrot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	clerk	clerk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	xcomp	_	_
25	again	again	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	only	only	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
32	on	on	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
36	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | infinitive |  | us |  |  | now |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent we=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | infinitive |  | men |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **imitate** *in a quote* | gerund | man *not said here* | the parrot |  |  |  | involuntarily *property* | vn patent-101 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent parrot=Theme |
| 5 | **become** *in a quote* | past | man | a clerk |  |  | again; moment |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **sit** *in a quote* | past · progressive | man |  |  | the table |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on table=Location |

<!-- .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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