---
title: Then the poor idiot, as the cretin was often called, looked at Rudy… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the poor idiot, as the cretin was often called, looked at Rudy with a most touching expression in his eyes, clasped his hands, and said, solemnly and devoutly, "Saperli wants to send a letter to Jesus Christ, to pray Him to let Saperli die, and not the master of the house here." Who acts: poor 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, III. the Uncle, sentence 58

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the poor idiot, as the cretin was often called, looked at Rudy with a most touching expression in his eyes, clasped his hands, and said, solemnly and devoutly, "Saperli wants to send a letter to Jesus Christ, to pray Him to let Saperli die, and not the master of the house here."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** poor idiot, Saperli · **What happens:** call, look, touch, clasp, say, want · **To what, where:** cretin, hands, letter, Jesus, Rudy · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (poor idiot, Saperli), 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:pg27200:54:58
# text = Then the poor idiot, as the cretin was often called, looked at Rudy with a most touching expression in his eyes, clasped his hands, and said, solemnly and devoutly, "Saperli wants to send a letter to Jesus Christ, to pray Him to let Saperli die, and not the master of the house here."
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	13	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	idiot	idiot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
6	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	cretin	cretin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
10	often	often	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	Rudy	Rudy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
18	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	19	advmod	_	_
19	touching	touch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	20	amod	_	_
20	expression	expression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	clasped	clasp	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
32	solemnly	solemnly	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	devoutly	devoutly	ADV	RB	_	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	Saperli	Saperli	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
38	wants	want	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	xcomp	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
43	to	to	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	Jesus	Jesus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	_
45	Christ	Christ	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
47	to	to	PART	TO	_	48	mark	_	_
48	pray	pray	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	conj	_	_
49	Him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	_
50	to	to	PART	TO	_	51	mark	_	_
51	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	advcl	_	_
52	Saperli	Saperli	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	53	nsubj	_	_
53	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
56	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	58	advmod	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	_
59	of	of	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nmod	_	_
62	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	58	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** | past · passive | the poor idiot *not said here* | the cretin |  |  |  | often *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 2 | **look** | past | the poor idiot |  |  |  | then | with a touching expression in Rudy's eyes; at Rudy | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at rudy=Theme |
| 3 | **touch** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **clasp** | past | the poor idiot *not said here* | Rudy's hands |  |  |  |  | vn hold-15.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Theme |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  | solemnly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **want** *in a quote* | present | Saperli |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 7 | **send** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | Saperli *not said here* | a letter | Jesus |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent letter=Theme to jesus=Destination |
| 8 | **pray** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Saperli *not said here* | Rudy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **let** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Saperli *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **die** *in a quote* | infinitive | Saperli |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

<!-- .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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