---
title: This happened every year; and the young Fir Tree, that had now grown… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: This happened every year; and the young Fir Tree, that had now grown to a very comely size, trembled at the sight; for the magnificent great trees fell to the earth with noise and cracking, the branches were lopped off, and the trees looked long and bare; they were hardly to be recognised; and then 
---

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Fir Tree, sentence 19

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
This happened every year; and the young Fir Tree, that had now grown to a very comely size, trembled at the sight; for the magnificent great trees fell to the earth with noise and cracking, the branches were lopped off, and the trees looked long and bare; they were hardly to be recognised; and then they were laid in carts, and the horses dragged them out of the wood.

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**Who acts:** This, that, trees, horses · **What happens:** happen, grow, tremble, fall, lop off, look · **To what, where:** young Fir Tree, sight, branches, carts, wood

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This is a sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Fir Tree. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (This, that, trees, horses), 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:pg1597:10:19
# text = This happened every year; and the young Fir Tree, that had now grown to a very comely size, trembled at the sight; for the magnificent great trees fell to the earth with noise and cracking, the branches were lopped off, and the trees looked long and bare; they were hardly to be recognised; and then they were laid in carts, and the horses dragged them out of the wood.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	nsubj	_	_
2	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	Fir	Fir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	Tree	Tree	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	_
15	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	conj	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
18	very	very	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	comely	comely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	size	size	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	trembled	tremble	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	conj	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
27	for	for	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
29	magnificent	magnificent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
30	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	_
32	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
36	with	with	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
39	cracking	cracking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	nsubj:pass	_	_
43	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux:pass	_	_
44	lopped	lop	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	conj	_	_
45	off	off	ADP	RP	_	44	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	nsubj	_	_
50	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	conj	_	_
51	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	xcomp	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
53	bare	bare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	60	punct	_	_
55	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	60	nsubj	_	_
56	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	60	aux:pass	_	_
57	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	60	advmod	_	_
58	to	to	PART	TO	_	60	mark	_	_
59	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	60	aux:pass	_	_
60	recognised	recognise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	66	punct	_	_
62	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	66	cc	_	_
63	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	66	advmod	_	_
64	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	66	nsubj	_	_
65	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	66	aux:pass	_	_
66	laid	lay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
67	in	in	ADP	IN	_	68	case	_	_
68	carts	cart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	66	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
69	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	73	punct	_	_
70	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	73	cc	_	_
71	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	72	det	_	_
72	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	73	nsubj	_	_
73	dragged	drag	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
74	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	73	obj	_	_
75	out	out	ADP	IN	_	78	case	_	_
76	of	of	ADP	IN	_	78	case	_	_
77	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	78	det	_	_
78	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	73	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
79	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | This | the young Fir Tree |  |  | year |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **grow** | past · perfect | that |  |  |  | now | to a comely size | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **tremble** | participle | This *not said here* |  |  | the sight |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at sight=Location |
| 4 | **fall** | past |  |  |  |  |  | for the magnificent great trees; to the earth with noise and cracking | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to earth=Theme |
| 5 | **lop off** | past · passive |  | the branches |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 6 | **look** | past | the trees |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 7 | **recognise** | past · passive |  | branches *= branch* |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 8 | **lay** | past · passive |  | branches *= branch* |  | carts | then |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in cart=Destination |
| 9 | **drag** | past | the horses | branches *= branch* |  | the wood |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent they=Theme out wood=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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:** «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, Project Gutenberg book 1597 (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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