---
title: It seemed a most dangerous undertaking to ascend it, but Rudy knew h… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: It seemed a most dangerous undertaking to ascend it, but Rudy knew how to climb; he had learnt that from the cat, and he had no fear. Who acts: It, Rudy. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, VII. the Eagle's Nest, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ev
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, VII. the Eagle's Nest, sentence 36

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It seemed a most dangerous undertaking to ascend it, but Rudy knew how to climb; he had learnt that from the cat, and he had no fear.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** It, Rudy · **What happens:** seem, undertake, ascend, know, climb, learn · **To what, where:** nest, that, fear

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, VII. the Eagle's Nest. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, Rudy), 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:pg27200:58:36
# text = It seemed a most dangerous undertaking to ascend it, but Rudy knew how to climb; he had learnt that from the cat, and he had no fear.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	5	advmod	_	_
5	dangerous	dangerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
6	undertaking	undertake	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	ascend	ascend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	Rudy	Rudy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
14	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	16	advmod	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	climb	climb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	learnt	learn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
21	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	obj	_	_
22	from	from	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
29	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	30	det	_	_
30	fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | It |  |  |  |  | dangerous *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **undertake** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **ascend** | to-infinitive |  | nest |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme it=Trajectory |
| 4 | **know** | past | Rudy |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **climb** | to-infinitive | Rudy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **learn** | past · perfect | Rudy | that |  |  |  | from the cat | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent that=Topic from cat=Source |
| 7 | **have** | past | Rudy | no fear |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fear=Patient |

<!-- .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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