--- title: His mother had written in a letter, that before he was a year old he… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: His mother had written in a letter, that before he was a year old he had laughed more than he cried; but after his fall into the snow-covered crevasse, his disposition had completely changed. Who acts: Rudy, disposition. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, I. Li --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/52/53/) [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/) / [I. Little Rudy](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/52/) / 53 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, I. Little Rudy, sentence 53 His mother had written in a letter, that before he was a year old he had laughed more than he cried; but after his fall into the snow-covered crevasse, his disposition had completely changed. **Who acts:** Rudy, disposition · **What happens:** write, be, laugh, cry, cover, change · **To what, where:** mother, letter, more This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, I. Little Rudy. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Rudy, disposition), 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:pg27200:52:53 # text = His mother had written in a letter, that before he was a year old he had laughed more than he cried; but after his fall into the snow-covered crevasse, his disposition had completely changed. 1 His his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 2 nmod:poss _ _ 2 mother mother NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj:pass _ _ 3 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 written write VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 5 in in ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 letter letter NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 9 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 15 nsubj _ _ 10 before before ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 11 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 12 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 cop _ _ 13 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 year year NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl:unmarked _ _ 15 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 16 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 17 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 18 aux _ _ 18 laughed laugh VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 15 acl:relcl _ _ 19 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 18 obj _ _ 20 than than SCONJ IN _ 22 mark _ _ 21 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 22 cried cry VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 ; ; PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 24 but but CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 25 after after ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 27 fall fall NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obl _ _ 28 into into ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 30 snow snow NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 31 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 30 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 32 covered cover VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 33 amod _ _ 33 crevasse crevasse NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 35 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 36 nmod:poss _ _ 36 disposition disposition NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 nsubj _ _ 37 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 aux _ _ 38 completely completely ADV RB _ 39 advmod _ _ 39 changed change VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 4 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 40 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **write** | past · perfect · passive | | Rudy's mother | | a letter | | | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in letter=Destination | | 2 | **is** | past | Rudy | | | | before a year | | tree rules | | 3 | **laugh** | past · perfect | Rudy | more | | | | | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent more=Theme | | 4 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | Rudy | | | | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **cover** | participle | | | | | | | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **change** | past · perfect | Rudy's disposition | | | | after Rudy's fall into the covered crevasse | completely *property* | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: 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 52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/52/52/) - next →: [sentence 54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/52/54/) - ↑ back to [I. Little Rudy](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/52/)