---
title: They pointed to the empty loom, and the poor old minister went forwa… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They pointed to the empty loom, and the poor old minister went forward rubbing his eyes; but he could see nothing, for there was nothing there. Who acts: impostors, poor old minister, minister, nothing. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of the Emperor’s New Clothes(4). (4) 
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, Story of the Emperor’s New Clothes(4). (4) Andersen, sentence 23

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They pointed to the empty loom, and the poor old minister went forward rubbing his eyes; but he could see nothing, for there was nothing there.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** impostors, poor old minister, minister, nothing · **What happens:** point, go, rub, see, be · **To what, where:** empty loom, eyes, nothing

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of the Emperor’s New Clothes(4). (4) Andersen. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (impostors, poor old minister, minister, nothing), 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:pg640:6:23
# text = They pointed to the empty loom, and the poor old minister went forward rubbing his eyes; but he could see nothing, for there was nothing there.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	pointed	point	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	loom	loom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
10	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
11	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	minister	minister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
14	forward	forward	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
15	rubbing	rub	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
23	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
26	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	27	expl	_	_
27	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	advcl	_	_
28	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	27	nsubj	_	_
29	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	28	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **point** | past | impostors *= impostor* |  | the empty loom |  |  |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to loom=Recipient |
| 2 | **go** | past | the poor old minister |  |  |  |  | forward *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **rub** | gerund | the poor old minister *not said here* | minister's eyes |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent eye=Theme |
| 4 | **see** | could | minister | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus |
| 5 | **be** | past | nothing |  |  | there |  |  | 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 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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