---
title: Hansel stretched up his hand and broke off a little bit of the roof… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Hansel stretched up his hand and broke off a little bit of the roof to see what it was like, and Grettel went to the casement and began to nibble at it. Who acts: you, roof, Grettel. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Hansel and Grettel, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Hansel and Grettel, sentence 74

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Hansel stretched up his hand and broke off a little bit of the roof to see what it was like, and Grettel went to the casement and began to nibble at it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, roof, Grettel · **What happens:** hansel up, stretch, break off, see, be, go · **To what, where:** hand, little bit, casement

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (you, roof, Grettel), 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:pg503:35:74
# text = Hansel stretched up his hand and broke off a little bit of the roof to see what it was like, and Grettel went to the casement and began to nibble at it.
1	Hansel	hansel	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	stretched	stretch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	xcomp	_	_
3	up	up	ADP	RP	_	1	compound:prt	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
8	off	off	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl:unmarked	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	roof	roof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
17	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	16	obj	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	like	like	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	Grettel	Grettel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	casement	casement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	nibble	nibble	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
32	at	at	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hansel up** | imperative | you *not said here* | window's hand |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **stretch** | participle | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn bend-45.2 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **break off** | past | you *not said here* | a little bit of the roof |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **see** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |
| 5 | **is** | past | roof |  |  |  |  | like *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **go** | past | Grettel |  |  | the casement |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to casement=Initial\_Location |
| 7 | **begin** | past | Grettel *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 8 | **nibble** | to-infinitive | Grettel *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at roof | vn chew-39.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent at it=Patient |

<!-- .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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