--- title: He took the boy between his knees, and questioned him; and, in broke… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics description: He took the boy between his knees, and questioned him; and, in broken sentences, he soon heard the whole story, and also about the Metal Pig, and the wonderful ride to the picture-gallery, which was certainly rather incomprehensible. Who acts: boy, picture gallery. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/89/159/) [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/) / [The Metal Pig](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/89/) / 159 # Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Metal Pig, sentence 159 He took the boy between his knees, and questioned him; and, in broken sentences, he soon heard the whole story, and also about the Metal Pig, and the wonderful ride to the picture-gallery, which was certainly rather incomprehensible. **Who acts:** boy, picture gallery · **What happens:** take, question, break, hear, be · **To what, where:** boy, whole story, broken sentences This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Metal Pig. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, picture gallery), 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:pg27200:89:159 # text = He took the boy between his knees, and questioned him; and, in broken sentences, he soon heard the whole story, and also about the Metal Pig, and the wonderful ride to the picture-gallery, which was certainly rather incomprehensible. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obj _ _ 5 between between ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 7 nmod:poss _ _ 7 knees knee NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 10 questioned question VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 11 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 12 ; ; PUNCT : _ 21 punct _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 15 in in ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 broken break VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 17 amod _ _ 17 sentences sentence NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 19 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 20 soon soon ADV RB Degree=Pos 21 advmod _ _ 21 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 23 whole whole ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 amod _ _ 24 story story NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 27 also also ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 28 about about ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 30 Metal Metal PROPN NNP Number=Sing 31 compound _ _ 31 Pig pig NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 35 wonderful wonderful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 36 amod _ _ 36 ride ride NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 conj _ _ 37 to to ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 39 picture picture NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 40 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 39 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 gallery gallery NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 43 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 47 nsubj _ _ 44 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 47 cop _ _ 45 certainly certainly ADV RB _ 47 advmod _ _ 46 rather rather ADV RB _ 47 advmod _ _ 47 incomprehensible incomprehensible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 41 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **take** | past | boy | | the boy | | | between boy's knees | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument boy=Destination | | 2 | **question** *speech: other* | past | boy *not said here* | | boy | | | | vn interrogate-37.1.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | | 3 | **break** | participle | | | | | | | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | | 4 | **hear** | past | boy | the whole story | | broken sentences | | soon *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer story=Stimulus | | 5 | **is** | past | the picture gallery | | | | | certainly, incomprehensible *property* | tree rules | 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 158](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/89/158/) - next →: [sentence 160](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/89/160/) - ↑ back to [The Metal Pig](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/89/)