---
title: The smaller of the two represented a little boy sitting at a table,… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: The smaller of the two represented a little boy sitting at a table, drawing; before him was a little white poodle, curiously shaven; but as the animal would not stand still, it had been fastened with a string to its head and tail, to keep it in one position. Who acts: little boy, boy. A sentence of 
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Metal Pig, sentence 185

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The smaller of the two represented a little boy sitting at a table, drawing; before him was a little white poodle, curiously shaven; but as the animal would not stand still, it had been fastened with a string to its head and tail, to keep it in one position.

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**Who acts:** little boy, boy · **What happens:** represent, sit, draw, be, not stand, fasten · **To what, where:** little boy, table, little white poodle, picture, one position

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (little boy, boy), 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:pg27200:89:185
# text = The smaller of the two represented a little boy sitting at a table, drawing; before him was a little white poodle, curiously shaven; but as the animal would not stand still, it had been fastened with a string to its head and tail, to keep it in one position.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	smaller	small	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	advmod	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	obl	_	_
6	represented	represent	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	acl	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	drawing	draw	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
17	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
21	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
22	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	poodle	poodle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	curiously	curiously	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	shaven	shaven	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
28	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
29	as	as	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
32	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
33	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
34	stand	stand	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
35	still	still	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
37	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj:pass	_	_
38	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
39	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	40	aux:pass	_	_
40	fastened	fasten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	34	conj	_	_
41	with	with	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	string	string	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	_
44	to	to	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
48	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
50	to	to	PART	TO	_	51	mark	_	_
51	keep	keep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	34	conj	_	_
52	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	obj	_	_
53	in	in	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	55	nummod	_	_
55	position	position	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **represent** | past |  | a little boy |  |  |  | of the two | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot boy=Theme |
| 2 | **sit** | gerund | a little boy *not said here* |  |  | a table |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at table=Location |
| 3 | **draw** | gerund | a little boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** | past | boy | a little white poodle |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** |  | boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | curiously *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **stand** | would |  |  |  |  | still | as the animal | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **fasten** | past · perfect · passive |  | picture |  |  |  | with a string; to picture's head and tail | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP PP.co-patient PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with string=Instrument to head=Co-Patient |
| 8 | **keep** | to-infinitive |  | picture |  | one position |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Theme in position=Location |

<!-- .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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