---
title: "Neither of them," said the parlor-cat; "it is always the safest pla… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: "Neither of them," said the parlor-cat; "it is always the safest plan to believe nothing you hear." Who acts: Neither, quarrel, you. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, XIII. At the Mill, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, XIII. At the Mill, sentence 30

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"Neither of them," said the parlor-cat; "it is always the safest plan to believe nothing you hear."

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**Who acts:** Neither, quarrel, you · **What happens:** say, be, believe, hear · **To what, where:** parlor cat, safest plan, nothing · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, XIII. At the Mill. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Neither, quarrel, you), 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:pg27200:64:30
# text = "Neither of them," said the parlor-cat; "it is always the safest plan to believe nothing you hear."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Neither	neither	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	7	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
9	parlor	parlor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
13	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
16	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	19	advmod	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	safest	safe	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	19	amod	_	_
19	plan	plan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	ccomp	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	acl	_	_
22	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	21	obj	_	_
23	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	hear	hear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Neither | the parlor cat |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent cat=Topic |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | quarrel | the safest plan |  |  |  | always *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **believe** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Neither *not said here* | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus |
| 4 | **hear** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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