---
title: The little boy in bed did not know whether he had dreamt it or heard… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The little boy in bed did not know whether he had dreamt it or heard it told; the teapot stood on the table, but no elder-tree was growing out of it, and the old man who had told the story was on the point of leaving the room, and he did go out. Who acts: little boy, boy, bed, teapot. A sentence of 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Elder-tree Mother, sentence 124

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The little boy in bed did not know whether he had dreamt it or heard it told; the teapot stood on the table, but no elder-tree was growing out of it, and the old man who had told the story was on the point of leaving the room, and he did go out.

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**Who acts:** little boy, boy, bed, teapot, elder tree, old man · **What happens:** not know, dreamt, hear, tell, stand, grow out · **To what, where:** bed, table, teapot, story, point, room · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Little Elder-tree Mother. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (little boy, boy, bed, teapot), 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:pg27200:72:124
# text = The little boy in bed did not know whether he had dreamt it or heard it told; the teapot stood on the table, but no elder-tree was growing out of it, and the old man who had told the story was on the point of leaving the room, and he did go out.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	dreamt	dreamt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	ccomp	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	teapot	teapot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
27	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	30	det	_	_
28	elder	elder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	advcl	_	_
33	out	out	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nsubj	_	_
41	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	43	nsubj	_	_
42	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	40	acl:relcl	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obj	_	_
46	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	cop	_	_
47	on	on	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	point	point	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
50	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
51	leaving	leave	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	49	acl	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
56	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
57	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
58	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	conj	_	_
59	out	out	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | the little boy in bed |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **dreamt** | past · perfect | boy | bed |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **hear** | past | boy *not said here* | bed |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | participle | bed *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **stand** | past | the teapot |  |  | the table |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on table=Location |
| 6 | **grow out** | past · progressive | no elder tree | teapot |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location it=Theme |
| 7 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · perfect | the old man | the story |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent story=Recipient |
| 8 | **is** | past | the old man |  |  | the point |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **leave** | gerund | the point *not said here* | the room |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent room=Theme |
| 10 | **go out** | past · do-support | man |  |  |  |  | out *property* | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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