---
title: He was appointed "Bellringer to the World," and wrote every year a s… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: He was appointed "Bellringer to the World," and wrote every year a short dissertation on the owl, but by this means people did not become any wiser than they had been before. Who acts: this, people. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Bell, with its dependen
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Bell, sentence 17

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He was appointed "Bellringer to the World," and wrote every year a short dissertation on the owl, but by this means people did not become any wiser than they had been before.

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**Who acts:** this, people · **What happens:** appoint, write, mean, not become, be · **To what, where:** many, short dissertation, owl · **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 (this, people), 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:pg27200:9:17
# text = He was appointed "Bellringer to the World," and wrote every year a short dissertation on the owl, but by this means people did not become any wiser than they had been before.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	appointed	appoint	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	Bellringer	Bellringer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	World	World	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	wrote	write	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
13	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	14	det	_	_
14	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl:unmarked	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	dissertation	dissertation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
23	by	by	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	25	nsubj	_	_
25	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
26	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nsubj	_	_
27	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	29	advmod	_	_
29	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	ccomp	_	_
30	any	any	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	wiser	wise	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	29	xcomp	_	_
32	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
33	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
34	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	36	cop	_	_
36	before	before	ADV	RB	_	31	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **appoint** | past · passive |  | many |  |  |  | to the World; Bellringer *obl* | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Theme to world=Attribute |
| 2 | **write** | past |  | a short dissertation |  | the owl | year |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent dissertation=Theme on owl=Destination |
| 3 | **mean** | present | this |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **not** **become** | past · do-support | people |  |  |  |  | wise *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **is** | past · perfect | people |  |  |  |  | before *property* | 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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