---
title: He was expected to return shortly; and were she to tell him, he woul… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: He was expected to return shortly; and were she to tell him, he would very likely, as was the custom at that time, expose the poor child in the public highway, and let any one take it away who would. Who acts: sorcerer, wife, one. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Ander
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 1, sentence 102

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was expected to return shortly; and were she to tell him, he would very likely, as was the custom at that time, expose the poor child in the public highway, and let any one take it away who would.

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**Who acts:** sorcerer, wife, one · **What happens:** expect, return, tell, be, expose, let · **To what, where:** sorcerer, poor child, public highway, one, highway · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Marsh King's Daughter, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sorcerer, wife, one), 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:pg27200:83:102
# text = He was expected to return shortly; and were she to tell him, he would very likely, as was the custom at that time, expose the poor child in the public highway, and let any one take it away who would.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	expected	expect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	shortly	shortly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
10	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	ccomp	_	_
17	very	very	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	likely	likely	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	as	as	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
24	at	at	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	det	_	_
26	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
28	expose	expose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	public	public	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	highway	highway	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
39	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	40	det	_	_
40	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	_
41	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	xcomp	_	_
42	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obj	_	_
43	away	away	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
44	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	45	nsubj	_	_
45	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **expect** | past · passive |  | sorcerer |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **return** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | sorcerer *not said here* |  |  |  |  | shortly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | wife |  | sorcerer |  | time |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 4 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | as the custom | tree rules |
| 5 | **expose** | infinitive | wife *not said here* | the poor child |  | the public highway |  |  | vn indicate-78 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot child=Topic |
| 6 | **let** | infinitive | wife *not said here* | any one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **take away** | infinitive | any one *not said here* | highway |  |  |  | away *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

<!-- .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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