---
title: He told him that when on the fissures of the rocks he could find no… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: He told him that when on the fissures of the rocks he could find no place for his feet, he must support himself on his elbows, and cling with his legs, and even lean firmly with his back, for this could be done when necessary. Who acts: Rudy. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, III. the Uncle, sentence 26

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He told him that when on the fissures of the rocks he could find no place for his feet, he must support himself on his elbows, and cling with his legs, and even lean firmly with his back, for this could be done when necessary.

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**Who acts:** Rudy · **What happens:** tell, find, support, lean, do · **To what, where:** cling, uncle, place, fissures, Rudy, elbows · **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 (Rudy), 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:pg27200:54:26
# text = He told him that when on the fissures of the rocks he could find no place for his feet, he must support himself on his elbows, and cling with his legs, and even lean firmly with his back, for this could be done when necessary.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	iobj	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
5	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	fissures	fissure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	advcl	_	_
15	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	16	det	_	_
16	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	support	support	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
24	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	23	obj	_	_
25	on	on	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	elbows	elbow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	cling	cling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
31	with	with	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	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
36	even	even	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	lean	lean	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
38	firmly	firmly	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
39	with	with	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
43	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
44	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	47	nsubj:pass	_	_
45	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
46	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	aux:pass	_	_
47	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	conj	_	_
48	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	49	mark	_	_
49	necessary	necessary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Rudy | cling with Rudy's legs | uncle |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **find** | could | Rudy | no place |  | the fissures of the rocks |  | for Rudy's feet | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent place=Theme for foot=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **support** | must | Rudy | Rudy |  | Rudy's elbows |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer himself=Stimulus |
| 4 | **lean** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | with Rudy's back; firmly *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **do** | could · passive |  | this |  |  |  | necessary *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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.

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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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