---
title: It was in the middle of winter, when the broad flakes of snow were f… — Grimm's Fairy Stories · tree and pragmatics
description: It was in the middle of winter, when the broad flakes of snow were falling around, that a certain queen sat working at her window, the frame of which was made of fine black ebony; and, as she was looking out upon the snow, she pricked her finger, and three drops of blood fell upon it. Who acts: It, 
---

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# Grimm's Fairy Stories, Little Snow White, sentence 1

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It was in the middle of winter, when the broad flakes of snow were falling around, that a certain queen sat working at her window, the frame of which was made of fine black ebony; and, as she was looking out upon the snow, she pricked her finger, and three drops of blood fell upon it.

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**Who acts:** It, broad flakes, certain queen, queen, three drops · **What happens:** be, fall around, sit, work, make, look out · **To what, where:** middle, frame, finger, blood

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This is a sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Little Snow White. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, broad flakes, certain queen, queen), 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:pg11027:11:1
# text = It was in the middle of winter, when the broad flakes of snow were falling around, that a certain queen sat working at her window, the frame of which was made of fine black ebony; and, as she was looking out upon the snow, she pricked her finger, and three drops of blood fell upon it.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
9	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	16	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	broad	broad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	flakes	flake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
15	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	parataxis	_	_
17	around	around	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	_
24	working	work	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	23	xcomp	_	_
25	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	frame	frame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	34	obl	_	_
33	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux:pass	_	_
34	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	acl:relcl	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
37	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	ebony	ebony	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	52	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
42	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
43	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
44	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
45	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	52	advcl	_	_
46	out	out	ADP	RP	_	45	compound:prt	_	_
47	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
51	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
52	pricked	prick	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
53	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	finger	finger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	61	cc	_	_
57	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	58	nummod	_	_
58	drops	drop	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	61	nsubj	_	_
59	of	of	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nmod	_	_
61	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	conj	_	_
62	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
63	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	61	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | It |  |  | the middle | winter |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **fall around** | past · progressive | the broad flakes of snow |  |  |  |  | around *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **sit** | past | a certain queen |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **work** | gerund | a certain queen *not said here* | the frame |  |  |  | at queen's window | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at window=Theme |
| 5 | **make** | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  | of the frame; of fine black ebony | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP» |
| 6 | **look out** | past · progressive | queen |  |  |  |  | upon the snow | vn caring-75.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **prick** | past | queen | queen's finger |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer finger=Patient |
| 8 | **fall** | past | three drops of blood |  |  | blood |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon it=Location |

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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:** «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 11027 (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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