---
title: That child of the human race has a power within him which keeps me a… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: That child of the human race has a power within him which keeps me at a distance; I cannot possibly reach the boy when he hangs from the branches of trees, over the precipice; or I would gladly tickle his feet, and send him heels over head through the air; but I cannot accomplish it." Who acts: chil
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/52/89/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / 89

# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, I. Little Rudy, sentence 89

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That child of the human race has a power within him which keeps me at a distance; I cannot possibly reach the boy when he hangs from the branches of trees, over the precipice; or I would gladly tickle his feet, and send him heels over head through the air; but I cannot accomplish it."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** child, power, I, Vertigo · **What happens:** have, keep, not reach, hang, tickle, send · **To what, where:** power, me, boy, branches, feet, heels

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (child, power, I, Vertigo), 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:pg27200:52:89
# text = That child of the human race has a power within him which keeps me at a distance; I cannot possibly reach the boy when he hangs from the branches of trees, over the precipice; or I would gladly tickle his feet, and send him heels over head through the air; but I cannot accomplish it."
1	That	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	race	race	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
7	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	within	within	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nmod	_	_
12	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
13	keeps	keep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
14	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
20	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
22	possibly	possibly	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	parataxis	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	28	advmod	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	hangs	hang	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	advcl	_	_
29	from	from	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	over	over	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	precipice	precipice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
39	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
40	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
41	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
42	gladly	gladly	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
43	tickle	tickle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
44	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
48	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	conj	_	_
49	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	_
50	heels	heel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	obj	_	_
51	over	over	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	_
53	through	through	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	61	punct	_	_
57	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	61	cc	_	_
58	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	61	nsubj	_	_
59	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	61	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	61	advmod	_	_
61	accomplish	accomplish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	parataxis	_	_
62	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	61	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	61	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	61	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present | that child of the human race | a power |  |  |  | within Vertigo | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent power=Patient |
| 2 | **keep** | present | a power | me |  |  |  | at a distance | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent i=Theme at distance=Location |
| 3 | **not** **reach** | can | I | the boy |  |  |  | possibly *property* | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent boy=Theme |
| 4 | **hang** | present | Vertigo |  |  | the branches of trees |  | over the precipice | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over precipice=Location |
| 5 | **tickle** | would | I | Vertigo's feet |  |  |  | gladly *property* | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent foot=Experiencer |
| 6 | **send** | infinitive | I *not said here* | heels | Vertigo | head |  | through the air | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Destination heel=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **accomplish** | can | I | power |  |  |  |  | vn complete-55.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 88](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/52/88/)
- next →: [sentence 90](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/52/90/)
- ↑ back to [I. Little Rudy](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/52/)