---
title: It is quite a picture to see a half-naked boy clasping the well-form… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: It is quite a picture to see a half-naked boy clasping the well-formed creature by the head, as he presses his rosy lips against its jaws. Who acts: color, half naked boy, boy. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Metal Pig, with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Metal Pig, sentence 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is quite a picture to see a half-naked boy clasping the well-formed creature by the head, as he presses his rosy lips against its jaws.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** color, half naked boy, boy · **What happens:** be, see, clasp, form, press · **To what, where:** picture, half naked boy, formed creature, rosy lips

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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 (color, half naked boy, boy), 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:pg27200:89:4
# text = It is quite a picture to see a half-naked boy clasping the well-formed creature by the head, as he presses his rosy lips against its jaws.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	quite	quite	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	5	det:predet	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	picture	picture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
9	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	12	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	naked	naked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
13	clasping	clasp	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	acl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
15	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	formed	form	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	amod	_	_
18	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
19	by	by	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	presses	press	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
27	rosy	rosy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	lips	lip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	_
29	against	against	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	jaws	jaw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | color | quite picture |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | to-infinitive |  | a half naked boy |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer boy=Stimulus |
| 3 | **clasp** | gerund | a half naked boy *not said here* | the formed creature |  |  |  | by the head | vn hold-15.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent creature=Theme |
| 4 | **form** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **press** | present | boy | boy's rosy lips |  |  |  | against color's jaws | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lip=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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