--- title: She seemed, so far as Mr. Alfred was concerned, to be like a piece o… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: She seemed, so far as Mr. Alfred was concerned, to be like a piece of fresh blotting-paper that absorbed all he said and asked for more. Who acts: widow, Alfred, fresh blotting paper. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Beauty of Form and Beauty of Mind, with it --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/7/9/) [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/) / [Beauty of Form and Beauty of Mind](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/7/) / 9 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Beauty of Form and Beauty of Mind, sentence 9 She seemed, so far as Mr. Alfred was concerned, to be like a piece of fresh blotting-paper that absorbed all he said and asked for more. **Who acts:** widow, Alfred, fresh blotting paper · **What happens:** seem, be, absorb, say, ask · **To what, where:** all · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Beauty of Form and Beauty of Mind. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (widow, Alfred, fresh blotting paper), 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:pg27200:7:9 # text = She seemed, so far as Mr. Alfred was concerned, to be like a piece of fresh blotting-paper that absorbed all he said and asked for more. 1 She she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|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 _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ _ 4 so so ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 5 far far ADV RB Degree=Pos 2 advmod _ _ 6 as as SCONJ IN _ 10 mark _ _ 7 Mr. Mr. PROPN NNP Number=Sing 8 nmod:desc _ _ 8 Alfred Alfred PROPN NNP Number=Sing 10 nsubj _ _ 9 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 cop _ _ 10 concerned concerned ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 12 to to PART TO _ 16 mark _ _ 13 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 16 cop _ _ 14 like like ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 piece piece NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ _ 17 of of ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 18 fresh fresh ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 19 blotting blotting NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 20 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 21 paper paper NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nmod _ _ 22 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 23 nsubj _ _ 23 absorbed absorb VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 acl:relcl _ _ 24 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 23 obj _ _ 25 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 26 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 acl:relcl _ _ 27 and and CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 28 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 conj _ _ 29 for for ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 30 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 28 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **seem** | past | widow | | | | | far *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **is** | past | Alfred Mr. | | | | | concerned *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **is** | to-infinitive | | | | | | like a piece; of fresh blotting paper | tree rules | | 4 | **absorb** | past | fresh blotting paper | all | | | | | vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal all=Theme | | 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Alfred | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Alfred *not said here* | | | | | for more | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/7/8/) - next →: [sentence 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/7/10/) - ↑ back to [Beauty of Form and Beauty of Mind](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/7/)