---
title: That touched the Tin-soldier, he was nearly going to shed tin-tears;… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: That touched the Tin-soldier, he was nearly going to shed tin-tears; but that would not have been fitting for a soldier. Who acts: That, fish. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Steadfast Tin-soldier, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Steadfast Tin-soldier, sentence 72

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
That touched the Tin-soldier, he was nearly going to shed tin-tears; but that would not have been fitting for a soldier.

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**Who acts:** That, fish · **What happens:** touch, go, shed, not fit · **To what, where:** Tin soldier, tin tears

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Steadfast Tin-soldier. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (That, fish), 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:pg640:50:72
# text = That touched the Tin-soldier, he was nearly going to shed tin-tears; but that would not have been fitting for a soldier.
1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	nsubj	_	_
2	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	Tin	Tin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	shed	shed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	tin	tin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
19	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	24	nsubj	_	_
20	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
22	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	aux	_	_
23	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	aux	_	_
24	fitting	fit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
25	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **touch** | past | That | the Tin soldier |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme soldier=Co-Theme |
| 2 | **go** | past · progressive | fish |  |  |  |  | nearly *property* | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **shed** | to-infinitive | fish *not said here* | tin tears |  |  |  |  | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location tear=Source |
| 4 | **not** **fit** | would · perfect · progressive | that |  |  |  |  | for a soldier | vn adjust-26.9 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (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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