---
title: I need not describe it, but only say that there stood in it an earth… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: I need not describe it, but only say that there stood in it an earthen pot with handles, made for holding fire, which in Italy is called a marito. Who acts: I. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Metal Pig, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Metal Pig, sentence 69

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I need not describe it, but only say that there stood in it an earthen pot with handles, made for holding fire, which in Italy is called a marito.

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** not need, describe, say, stand, make, hold · **To what, where:** room, earthen pot, fire, Italy · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (I), 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:pg27200:89:69
# text = I need not describe it, but only say that there stood in it an earthen pot with handles, made for holding fire, which in Italy is called a marito.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	need	need	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	2	advmod	_	_
4	describe	describe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	only	only	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	say	say	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	12	advmod	_	_
12	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	_
15	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	earthen	earthen	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	handles	handle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	acl	_	_
22	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
23	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	advcl	_	_
24	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	30	nsubj:pass	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	Italy	Italy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
29	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux:pass	_	_
30	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	acl:relcl	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	marito	marito	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **need** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **describe** *not said to happen* | infinitive | I *not said here* | room |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **stand** | past |  | a earthen pot |  | room; there |  | with handles | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent pot=Theme in it=Destination |
| 5 | **make** | participle |  | a earthen pot *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 6 | **hold** | gerund |  | fire |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fire=Theme |
| 7 | **call** | present · passive |  | fire |  | Italy |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |

<!-- .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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