---
title: "No, that is impossible," replied the old grandfather; "but I have s… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: "No, that is impossible," replied the old grandfather; "but I have seen it, and I have tried to carve it in wood, as I have retained it in my memory. Who acts: that, old grandfather, daughter. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Holger Danske, with its dependenc
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Holger Danske, sentence 36

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"No, that is impossible," replied the old grandfather; "but I have seen it, and I have tried to carve it in wood, as I have retained it in my memory.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** that, old grandfather, daughter · **What happens:** be, reply, see, try, carve, retain · **To what, where:** face, wood, memory · **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 (that, old grandfather, daughter), 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:pg27200:50:36
# text = "No, that is impossible," replied the old grandfather; "but I have seen it, and I have tried to carve it in wood, as I have retained it in my memory.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
9	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	grandfather	grandfather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	parataxis	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	tried	try	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	conj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	carve	carve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
32	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	retained	retain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	26	advcl	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	memory	memory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | that |  |  |  |  | impossible *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the old grandfather |  |  |  |  |  | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **see** *in a quote* | present · perfect | daughter | face |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 4 | **try** *in a quote* | present · perfect | daughter |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **carve** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | daughter *not said here* | face |  | wood |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme in wood=Destination |
| 6 | **retain** *in a quote* | present · perfect | daughter | face |  | my memory |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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