---
title: The Flea, the Grasshopper, and the Skipjack once wanted to see which… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The Flea, the Grasshopper, and the Skipjack once wanted to see which of them could jump highest; and they invited the whole world, and whoever else would come, to see the grand sight. Who acts: Flea, whoever. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Jumper, with 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Jumper, sentence 1

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The Flea, the Grasshopper, and the Skipjack once wanted to see which of them could jump highest; and they invited the whole world, and whoever else would come, to see the grand sight.

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**Who acts:** Flea, whoever · **What happens:** want, see, jump, invite, come · **To what, where:** whole world, grand sight · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Jumper. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Flea, whoever), 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:pg27200:68:1
# text = The Flea, the Grasshopper, and the Skipjack once wanted to see which of them could jump highest; and they invited the whole world, and whoever else would come, to see the grand sight.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Flea	Flea	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Grasshopper	Grasshopper	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Skipjack	Skipjack	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	11	advmod	_	_
11	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obl	_	_
17	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	jump	jump	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	ccomp	_	_
19	highest	high	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	18	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	invited	invite	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
29	whoever	whoever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj	_	_
30	else	else	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
31	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	conj	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	grand	grand	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | the Flea and the Grasshopper |  |  |  |  | once *property* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **see** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the Flea and the Grasshopper *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **jump** | could |  |  |  |  |  | of Flea | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent which=Theme of they=Trajectory |
| 4 | **invite** | past | Flea | the whole world |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent world=Recipient |
| 5 | **come** | would | whoever |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **see** | to-infinitive | whoever *not said here* | the grand sight |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer sight=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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