---
title: "But think again," said the witch; "for when once your shape has bec… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: "But think again," said the witch; "for when once your shape has become like a human being, you can no more be a mermaid. Who acts: witch, you. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every c
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid, part 3, sentence 15

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"But think again," said the witch; "for when once your shape has become like a human being, you can no more be a mermaid.

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**Who acts:** witch, you · **What happens:** think, say, become, know, be · **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 Mermaid, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (witch, you), 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:pg27200:77:15
# text = "But think again," said the witch; "for when once your shape has become like a human being, you can no more be a mermaid.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	_
4	again	again	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
11	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
13	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	18	mark	_	_
14	once	once	SCONJ	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	shape	shape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
17	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	_
19	like	like	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
21	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
22	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	30	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	no	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	det	_	_
27	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	30	amod	_	_
28	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	cop	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	mermaid	mermaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  | again |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the witch |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **become** *in a quote* | present · perfect | the witch *not said here* |  |  |  |  | once your shape | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **know** *in a quote* | can | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | like a human more mermaid | tree rules |

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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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