---
title: Once or twice, when the men thought the way was rather difficult for… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Once or twice, when the men thought the way was rather difficult for such a little boy, they held out their hands to assist him; but he would not accept their assistance, for he stood on the slippery ice as firmly as if he had been a chamois. Who acts: men, way. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Ch
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, II. the Journey to the New Home, sentence 41

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Once or twice, when the men thought the way was rather difficult for such a little boy, they held out their hands to assist him; but he would not accept their assistance, for he stood on the slippery ice as firmly as if he had been a chamois.

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**Who acts:** men, way · **What happens:** think, be, hold out, assist, not accept, stand · **To what, where:** hands, way, assistance, slippery ice, chamois · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, II. the Journey to the New Home. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (men, way), 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:pg27200:53:41
# text = Once or twice, when the men thought the way was rather difficult for such a little boy, they held out their hands to assist him; but he would not accept their assistance, for he stood on the slippery ice as firmly as if he had been a chamois.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	8	advmod	_	_
2	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
8	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
12	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	ccomp	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
15	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	18	det:predet	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
22	out	out	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	_
23	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	assist	assist	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
31	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	33	advmod	_	_
33	accept	accept	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
34	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	assistance	assistance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
37	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
38	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	parataxis	_	_
40	on	on	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
42	slippery	slippery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
44	as	as	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
45	firmly	firmly	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
46	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	52	mark	_	_
47	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	52	mark	_	_
48	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
49	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
50	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	52	cop	_	_
51	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	chamois	chamois	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the men |  |  |  |  | once *property* | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | the way |  |  |  |  | for such little boy; difficult *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **hold out** | past | men *= man* | men's hands |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Theme |
| 4 | **assist** | to-infinitive | men *= man* *not said here* |  | way |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary |
| 5 | **not** **accept** | would | way | men's assistance |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent assistance=Theme |
| 6 | **stand** | past | way |  |  | the slippery ice |  | firmly *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on ice=Location |
| 7 | **is a** | past · perfect | way | a chamois |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **assist** |  | men *= man* |  |  |  |  |  | nom assistance «act transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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