---
title: Then he nodded his head, wiped his spectacles and put them on, and s… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he nodded his head, wiped his spectacles and put them on, and said, "Ah, yes; Holger Danske will not appear in my lifetime, but the boy who is in bed there may very likely live to see him when the event really comes to pass." Who acts: grandfather, Holger Danske, boy, event. A sentence of «Fair
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Holger Danske, sentence 16

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then he nodded his head, wiped his spectacles and put them on, and said, "Ah, yes; Holger Danske will not appear in my lifetime, but the boy who is in bed there may very likely live to see him when the event really comes to pass."

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**Who acts:** grandfather, Holger Danske, boy, event · **What happens:** nod, wipe, put on, say, not appear, be · **To what, where:** head, spectacles, lifetime, bed, grandfather · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Holger Danske. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (grandfather, Holger Danske, boy, event), 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:pg27200:50:16
# text = Then he nodded his head, wiped his spectacles and put them on, and said, "Ah, yes; Holger Danske will not appear in my lifetime, but the boy who is in bed there may very likely live to see him when the event really comes to pass."
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	nodded	nod	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	wiped	wipe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	spectacles	spectacle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	Ah	ah	INTJ	UH	_	16	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
21	yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	19	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
23	Holger	Holger	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	compound	_	_
24	Danske	Danske	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
25	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	appear	appear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	lifetime	lifetime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
32	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
35	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	38	nsubj	_	_
36	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	_
39	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	38	advmod	_	_
40	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
41	very	very	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
42	likely	likely	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
43	live	live	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	45	mark	_	_
45	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	xcomp	_	_
46	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	obj	_	_
47	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	51	advmod	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	event	event	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	nsubj	_	_
50	really	really	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
51	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	45	advcl	_	_
52	to	to	PART	TO	_	53	mark	_	_
53	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **nod** | past | grandfather | grandfather's head |  |  | then |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Patient |
| 2 | **wipe** | past | grandfather *not said here* | grandfather's spectacles |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent spectacle=Source |
| 3 | **put on** | infinitive | grandfather *not said here* | spectacles *= spectacle* |  |  |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent they=Goal |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | grandfather *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **not** **appear** *in a quote* | future | Holger Danske |  |  | my lifetime |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in lifetime=Location |
| 6 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the boy |  |  | bed; there |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **live** *in a quote* | may | the boy |  |  |  |  | likely *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **see** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the boy *not said here* | grandfather |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 9 | **come** *in a quote* | present | the event |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **pass** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the event *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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