---
title: It was a wisdom owl, which continually knocked its head against the… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: It was a wisdom owl, which continually knocked its head against the tree, but he was unable to say with certainty whether its head or the hollow trunk of the tree was the cause of the noise. Who acts: sound, many, head. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Be
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Bell, sentence 16

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It was a wisdom owl, which continually knocked its head against the tree, but he was unable to say with certainty whether its head or the hollow trunk of the tree was the cause of the noise.

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**Who acts:** sound, many, head · **What happens:** be, knock, say · **To what, where:** wisdom owl, cause · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Bell. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sound, many, head), 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:pg27200:9:16
# text = It was a wisdom owl, which continually knocked its head against the tree, but he was unable to say with certainty whether its head or the hollow trunk of the tree was the cause of the noise.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	wisdom	wisdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obj	_	_
8	continually	continually	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	knocked	knock	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
10	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	against	against	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	unable	unable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	certainty	certainty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
24	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
25	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
27	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	hollow	hollow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	trunk	trunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
34	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	advcl	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | sound | a wisdom owl |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **knock** | past |  | a wisdom owl |  |  |  | against the tree; continually *property* | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent which=Destination head=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | many |  |  |  |  | unable *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | many *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with certainty | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent with certainty=Manner |
| 5 | **is a** | past | sound's head or the hollow trunk of the tree | the cause |  |  |  | of the noise | tree rules |

<!-- .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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