---
title: What do they do that for," she asked, of the student who sat on the… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: What do they do that for," she asked, of the student who sat on the sofa; she liked him very much, he could tell the most amusing stories, and cut out the prettiest pictures; hearts, and ladies dancing, castles with doors that opened, as well as flowers; he was a delightful student. " Who acts: leav
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Little Ida's Flowers, sentence 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What do they do that for," she asked, of the student who sat on the sofa; she liked him very much, he could tell the most amusing stories, and cut out the prettiest pictures; hearts, and ladies dancing, castles with doors that opened, as well as flowers; he was a delightful student. "

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** leaves, Ida, student, ladies, doors · **What happens:** do, ask, sit, like, tell, cut out · **To what, where:** that, sofa, student, amusing stories, prettiest pictures, castles · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Little Ida's Flowers. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (leaves, Ida, student, ladies), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg27200:73:2
# text = What do they do that for," she asked, of the student who sat on the sofa; she liked him very much, he could tell the most amusing stories, and cut out the prettiest pictures; hearts, and ladies dancing, castles with doors that opened, as well as flowers; he was a delightful student. "
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	advcl	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	obj	_	_
6	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	_
9	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	student	student	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
15	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
17	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	sofa	sofa	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	liked	like	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	very	very	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	much	much	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
31	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	32	advmod	_	_
32	amusing	amusing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	advcl	_	_
37	out	out	ADP	RP	_	36	compound:prt	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	prettiest	pretty	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	40	amod	_	_
40	pictures	picture	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	42	punct	_	_
42	hearts	heart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
45	ladies	lady	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	nsubj	_	_
46	dancing	dance	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	29	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
48	castles	castle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	obl	_	_
49	with	with	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
50	doors	door	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	obl	_	_
51	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	52	nsubj	_	_
52	opened	open	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
54	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	57	cc	_	_
55	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	54	fixed	_	_
56	as	as	ADP	IN	_	54	fixed	_	_
57	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	63	punct	_	_
59	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	63	nsubj	_	_
60	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	63	cop	_	_
61	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
62	delightful	delightful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	63	amod	_	_
63	student	student	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	_
65	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present · do-support | leaves *= leaf* | that |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | past | Ida |  |  |  |  | of the student | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V PP.recipient how S»: agent=Agent of student=Recipient |
| 3 | **sit** *in a quote* | past | the student |  |  | the sofa |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on sofa=Location |
| 4 | **like** *in a quote* | past | Ida | student |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot he=Theme |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | could | student | the amusing stories |  |  |  | hearts *obl* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent story=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **cut out** *in a quote* | participle | student *not said here* | the prettiest pictures |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector picture=Eventuality |
| 7 | **dance** *in a quote* | gerund | ladies | castles |  |  |  | with doors | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **open** *in a quote* | past | doors | flowers |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | student | a delightful student |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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