---
title: His father observed him, and said: “Hansel, what are you gazing at t… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: His father observed him, and said: “Hansel, what are you gazing at there, and why do you always remain behind? Who acts: father, you. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Hansel and Grettel, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Hansel and Grettel, sentence 22

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His father observed him, and said: “Hansel, what are you gazing at there, and why do you always remain behind?

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**Who acts:** father, you · **What happens:** observe, say, hansel, gaze, remain · **To what, where:** maneuver · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Hansel and Grettel. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father, you), 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:pg503:35:22
# text = His father observed him, and said: “Hansel, what are you gazing at there, and why do you always remain behind?
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	observed	observe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	Hansel	hansel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	15	obj	_	_
13	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	gazing	gaze	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
16	at	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
20	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	24	advmod	_	_
21	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	24	advmod	_	_
24	remain	remain	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
25	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **observe** | past | maneuver's father | maneuver |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent he=Topic |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | maneuver's father *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **hansel** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **gaze** *in a quote* | present · progressive | you |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **remain** *in a quote* | present · do-support | you |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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:** «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (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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