--- title: They had the most wondrous shapes; some looked like large ugly porcu… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: They had the most wondrous shapes; some looked like large ugly porcupines; others like snakes knotted together, with their heads sticking out; and others, again, like small fat bears, with the hair standing on end: all were of dazzling whiteness--all were living snow-flakes. Who acts: flakes, some, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/14/140/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Andersen's Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/) / [The Snow Queen, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/14/) / 140 # Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen, part 4, sentence 140 They had the most wondrous shapes; some looked like large ugly porcupines; others like snakes knotted together, with their heads sticking out; and others, again, like small fat bears, with the hair standing on end: all were of dazzling whiteness--all were living snow-flakes. **Who acts:** flakes, some, others, heads, hair · **What happens:** have, look, knot, stick out, stand, be · **To what, where:** wondrous shapes, end, living snow flakes This is a sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Snow Queen, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (flakes, some, others, heads), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg1597:14:140 # text = They had the most wondrous shapes; some looked like large ugly porcupines; others like snakes knotted together, with their heads sticking out; and others, again, like small fat bears, with the hair standing on end: all were of dazzling whiteness--all were living snow-flakes. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 4 most most ADV RBS Degree=Sup 5 advmod _ _ 5 wondrous wondrous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 shapes shape NOUN NNS Number=Plur 2 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 7 ; ; PUNCT : _ 9 punct _ _ 8 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 9 nsubj _ _ 9 looked look VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 10 like like ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 11 large large ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 12 ugly ugly ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 13 porcupines porcupine NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 14 ; ; PUNCT : _ 18 punct _ _ 15 others other NOUN NNS Number=Plur 18 nsubj _ _ 16 like like ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 snakes snake NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 nmod _ _ 18 knotted knot VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 2 parataxis _ _ 19 together together ADV RB _ 18 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 21 with with ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 23 nmod:poss _ _ 23 heads head NOUN NNS Number=Plur 18 parataxis _ _ 24 sticking stick VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 23 acl _ _ 25 out out ADP RP _ 24 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 26 ; ; PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 27 and and CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 28 others other NOUN NNS Number=Plur 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 30 again again ADV RB _ 28 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 32 like like ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 33 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 amod _ _ 34 fat fat NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 compound _ _ 35 bears bear NOUN NNS Number=Plur 28 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 37 with with ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 hair hair NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nmod _ _ 40 standing stand VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 39 acl _ _ 41 on on ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 end end NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 : : PUNCT : _ 48 punct _ _ 44 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 48 advmod _ _ 45 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 48 cop _ _ 46 of of ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 47 dazzling dazzling ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 48 amod _ _ 48 whiteness whiteness NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 49 -- -- PUNCT , _ 55 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 50 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 55 det _ _ 51 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 55 cop _ _ 52 living living ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 55 amod _ _ 53 snow snow NOUN NN Number=Sing 55 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 54 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 53 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 55 flakes flake NOUN NNS Number=Plur 48 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 56 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **have** | past | flakes *= flake* | the wondrous shapes | | | | others and small fat bears with the hair *obl* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shape=Patient | | 2 | **look** | past | some | | | | | like large ugly porcupines | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | | 3 | **knot** | participle | others like snakes | | | | | together *property* | vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient | | 4 | **stick out** | gerund | flakes's heads *not said here* | | | | | | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient | | 5 | **stand** | gerund | the hair *not said here* | | | | on end | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on end=Location | | 6 | **is** | past | | | | | | of dazzling whiteness and all living snow flakes | tree rules | | 7 | **is a** | past | | all living snow flakes | | | | | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 139](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/14/139/) - next →: [The Snow Queen, part 5, 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/15/1/) - ↑ back to [The Snow Queen, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/14/)