---
title: The French people knew how to fight in more ways than one, and the g… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The French people knew how to fight in more ways than one, and the girls knew how to conquer too; and when he said this the uncle nodded at his wife, who was a French woman by birth, and laughed. Who acts: French people, girls, Valais, uncle. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, III. the Uncle, sentence 19

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The French people knew how to fight in more ways than one, and the girls knew how to conquer too; and when he said this the uncle nodded at his wife, who was a French woman by birth, and laughed.

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**Who acts:** French people, girls, Valais, uncle, wife · **What happens:** know, fight, conquer, say, nod, be · **To what, where:** more ways, this, French woman · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, III. the Uncle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (French people, girls, Valais, uncle), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg27200:54:19
# text = The French people knew how to fight in more ways than one, and the girls knew how to conquer too; and when he said this the uncle nodded at his wife, who was a French woman by birth, and laughed.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	French	French	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	fight	fight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	10	amod	_	_
10	ways	way	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
11	than	than	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
17	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
18	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	conquer	conquer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
21	too	too	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
24	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	26	advmod	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
27	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	obj	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	uncle	uncle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
30	nodded	nod	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	ccomp	_	_
31	at	at	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
35	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	39	nsubj	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	French	French	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	appos	_	_
40	by	by	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | the French people |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **fight** | to-infinitive | the French people *not said here* |  |  | more ways |  | than one | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **know** | past | the girls |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **conquer** | to-infinitive | the girls *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Valais | this |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **nod** | past | the uncle |  |  |  |  | at Valais's wife | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is a** | past | Valais's wife | a French woman |  |  |  | by birth | tree rules |
| 8 | **laugh** | past | the French people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=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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