--- title: They even could have afforded to keep two horses, but it was a sayin… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: They even could have afforded to keep two horses, but it was a saying among the farmers in those parts, "The horse eats himself up;" that is to say, he eats as much as he earns. Who acts: people, it, horse, that. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Ib and Little --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/51/4/) [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/) / [Ib and Little Christina](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/51/) / 4 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Ib and Little Christina, sentence 4 They even could have afforded to keep two horses, but it was a saying among the farmers in those parts, "The horse eats himself up;" that is to say, he eats as much as he earns. **Who acts:** people, it, horse, that, pig · **What happens:** afford, keep, be, eat up, eat, earn · **To what, where:** two horses, saying, pig, much · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Ib and Little Christina. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people, it, horse, that), 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:pg27200:51:4 # text = They even could have afforded to keep two horses, but it was a saying among the farmers in those parts, "The horse eats himself up;" that is to say, he eats as much as he earns. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 2 even even ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 3 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 4 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 5 aux _ _ 5 afforded afford VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 6 to to PART TO _ 7 mark _ _ 7 keep keep VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 advcl _ _ 8 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 9 nummod _ _ 9 horses horse NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 11 but but CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 12 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 13 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 cop _ _ 14 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 saying saying NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 16 among among ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 farmers farmer NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 nmod _ _ 19 in in ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 those that DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 21 det _ _ 21 parts part NOUN NNS Number=Plur 18 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 23 " " PUNCT `` _ 26 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 24 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 horse horse NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nsubj _ _ 26 eats eat VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 15 ccomp _ _ 27 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 26 obj _ _ 28 up up ADP RP _ 26 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 29 ; ; PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 30 " " PUNCT `` _ 34 punct _ _ 31 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 34 nsubj:outer _ _ 32 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 34 cop _ _ 33 to to PART TO _ 34 mark _ _ 34 say say VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 26 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 36 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 37 eats eat VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 34 parataxis _ _ 38 as as ADV RB _ 39 advmod _ _ 39 much much ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 obj _ _ 40 as as SCONJ IN _ 42 mark _ _ 41 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 nsubj _ _ 42 earns earn VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 39 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **afford** | could · perfect | people | | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **keep** | to-infinitive | people *not said here* | two horses | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horse=Theme | | 3 | **is a** | past | it | a saying | | | | among the farmers in that parts | tree rules | | 4 | **eat up** *in a quote* | present | the horse | pig | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **is** | present | that | | | | | say *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **eat** | present | pig | much | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent much=Patient | | 7 | **earn** | present | pig | | | | | | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | 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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/51/3/) - next →: [sentence 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/51/5/) - ↑ back to [Ib and Little Christina](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/51/)