---
title: Her godmother had twice written to her, and this year she was expect… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: Her godmother had twice written to her, and this year she was expected to visit Interlachen with her two daughters; "but they are old-maids," added Babette, who was only eighteen: "they are nearly thirty." Who acts: arm, godmother, old maids, Babette. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian And
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, IV. Babette, sentence 163

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Her godmother had twice written to her, and this year she was expected to visit Interlachen with her two daughters; "but they are old-maids," added Babette, who was only eighteen: "they are nearly thirty."

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**Who acts:** arm, godmother, old maids, Babette · **What happens:** write, expect, visit, be, add · **To what, where:** godmother, arm, Interlachen, old maids, Babette, eighteen · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, IV. Babette. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (arm, godmother, old maids, Babette), 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:pg27200:55:163
# text = Her godmother had twice written to her, and this year she was expected to visit Interlachen with her two daughters; "but they are old-maids," added Babette, who was only eighteen: "they are nearly thirty."
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	godmother	godmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	advmod	_	_
5	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
10	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	det	_	_
11	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl:unmarked	_	_
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	expected	expect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	visit	visit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	Interlachen	Interlachen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
20	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nummod	_	_
21	daughters	daughter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
23	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
26	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
27	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	maids	maid	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	29	punct	_	_
32	added	add	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
33	Babette	Babette	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
35	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	38	nsubj	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
37	only	only	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	eighteen	eighteen	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	33	list	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	44	punct	_	_
40	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	44	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
42	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	44	cop	_	_
43	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
44	thirty	thirty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | past · perfect · passive |  | arm's godmother | arm |  |  | twice *property* | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Topic to she=Recipient |
| 2 | **expect** | past · passive |  | arm |  |  | year |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **visit** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | arm *not said here* | Interlachen |  |  |  | with arm's two daughters | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent interlachen=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | godmother | old maids |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **add** *speech: assert* | past | old maids | Babette |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent babette=Patient |
| 6 | **is a** | past | Babette | eighteen |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | godmother | thirty |  |  |  | nearly *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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