---
title: The boxes were very high, and the children knew that they must not c… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The boxes were very high, and the children knew that they must not creep over them; so they often obtained permission to get out of the windows to each other, and to sit on their little stools among the roses, where they could play delightfully. Who acts: boxes, children. A sentence of «Andersen's F
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/11/31/)

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen, part 1, sentence 31

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The boxes were very high, and the children knew that they must not creep over them; so they often obtained permission to get out of the windows to each other, and to sit on their little stools among the roses, where they could play delightfully.

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**Who acts:** boxes, children · **What happens:** be, know, not creep, obtain, get out, sit · **To what, where:** permission, windows, little stools · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Snow Queen, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boxes, children), 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:pg1597:11:31
# text = The boxes were very high, and the children knew that they must not creep over them; so they often obtained permission to get out of the windows to each other, and to sit on their little stools among the roses, where they could play delightfully.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boxes	box	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	creep	creep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
16	over	over	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	often	often	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	obtained	obtain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
23	permission	permission	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	_
26	out	out	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	windows	window	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	25	obl	_	_
32	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	sit	sit	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
37	on	on	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
39	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	stools	stool	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obl	_	_
41	among	among	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	roses	rose	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
45	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	48	advmod	_	_
46	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
47	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	conj	_	_
49	delightfully	delightfully	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the boxes |  |  |  |  | high *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | past | the children |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **not** **creep** | must | boxes *= box* |  |  |  |  | over children *= child* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over they=Trajectory |
| 4 | **obtain** | past | boxes *= box* | permission |  |  |  | often *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset permission=Theme |
| 5 | **get out** | to-infinitive | boxes *= box* *not said here* | the windows |  |  |  | to each | tree rules |
| 6 | **sit** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | boxes's little stools |  | among the roses | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on stool=Location |
| 7 | **play** | could | boxes *= box* |  |  |  |  | delightfully *property* | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: 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:** «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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