--- title: The old councillor, who had received three medals for holding his to… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: The old councillor, who had received three medals for holding his tongue, declared that the Skipjack possessed the gift of prophecy; one could tell by his bones whether there would be a severe winter or a mild one; and that's more than one can always tell from the breastbone of the man who writes th --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/68/13/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/) / [The Jumper](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/68/) / 13 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Jumper, sentence 13 The old councillor, who had received three medals for holding his tongue, declared that the Skipjack possessed the gift of prophecy; one could tell by his bones whether there would be a severe winter or a mild one; and that's more than one can always tell from the breastbone of the man who writes the almanac. **Who acts:** old councillor, Skipjack, one, severe winter, that, man · **What happens:** receive, hold, declare, possess, tell, be · **To what, where:** three medals, tongue, gift, breastbone, almanac, prophecy · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (old councillor, Skipjack, one, severe winter), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg27200:68:13 # text = The old councillor, who had received three medals for holding his tongue, declared that the Skipjack possessed the gift of prophecy; one could tell by his bones whether there would be a severe winter or a mild one; and that's more than one can always tell from the breastbone of the man who writes the almanac. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 councillor councillor NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 5 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 7 nsubj _ _ 6 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 aux _ _ 7 received receive VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 3 acl:relcl _ _ 8 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 9 nummod _ _ 9 medals medal NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 obj _ _ 10 for for SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 11 holding hold VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 7 advcl _ _ 12 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 13 nmod:poss _ _ 13 tongue tongue NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 15 declared declare VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 16 that that SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 Skipjack Skipjack PROPN NNP Number=Sing 19 nsubj _ _ 19 possessed possess VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 advcl _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 gift gift NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obj _ _ 22 of of ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 23 prophecy prophecy NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 24 ; ; PUNCT : _ 27 punct _ _ 25 one one PRON PRP Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 26 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 27 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 conj _ _ 28 by by ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 30 nmod:poss _ _ 30 bones bone NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 obl _ _ 31 whether whether SCONJ IN _ 34 mark _ _ 32 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 34 expl _ _ 33 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 34 be be VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 27 ccomp _ _ 35 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 36 severe severe ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 amod _ _ 37 winter winter NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nsubj _ _ 38 or or CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 39 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 40 mild mild ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 41 amod _ _ 41 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 42 ; ; PUNCT , _ 46 punct _ _ 43 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 44 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 46 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 45 's be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 46 cop _ _ 46 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 15 obj _ _ 47 than than SCONJ IN _ 51 mark _ _ 48 one one PRON PRP Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 51 nsubj _ _ 49 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 51 aux _ _ 50 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 51 advmod _ _ 51 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 46 advcl _ _ 52 from from ADP IN _ 54 case _ _ 53 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 54 det _ _ 54 breastbone breastbone NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 obl _ _ 55 of of ADP IN _ 57 case _ _ 56 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 57 det _ _ 57 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 54 nmod _ _ 58 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 59 nsubj _ _ 59 writes write VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 57 acl:relcl _ _ 60 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 61 det _ _ 61 almanac almanac NOUN NN Number=Sing 59 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 62 . . PUNCT . _ 15 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **receive** | past · perfect | the old councillor | three medals | | | | | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent medal=Theme | | 2 | **hold** | gerund | the old councillor *not said here* | councillor's tongue | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tongue=Theme | | 3 | **declare** *speech: other* | past | the old councillor | | | | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **possess** | past | the Skipjack | the gift of prophecy | | | | | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot gift=Theme | | 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | could | one | | | | | by councillor's bones | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 6 | **be** | would | a severe winter or a mild one | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **is** | present | that | | | | | more *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **tell** *speech: assert* | can | one | | | the breastbone of the man | | always *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 9 | **write** | present | the man | the almanac | | | | | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent almanac=Theme | | 10 | **gift** | | | prophecy | | | | | nom gift «possession transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/68/12/) - next →: [sentence 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/68/14/) - ↑ back to [The Jumper](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/68/)