---
title: In the middle of this lake sat the Snow Queen when she was at home;… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: In the middle of this lake sat the Snow Queen when she was at home; and then she said she was sitting in the Mirror of Understanding, and that this was the only one and the best thing in the world. Who acts: Mirth, this. A sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Snow Queen, part 
---

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen, part 5, sentence 18

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In the middle of this lake sat the Snow Queen when she was at home; and then she said she was sitting in the Mirror of Understanding, and that this was the only one and the best thing in the world.

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**Who acts:** Mirth, this · **What happens:** sit, be, say · **To what, where:** Snow Queen, middle, home, Mirror, only one · **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 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Mirth, this), 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:pg1597:15:18
# text = In the middle of this lake sat the Snow Queen when she was at home; and then she said she was sitting in the Mirror of Understanding, and that this was the only one and the best thing in the world.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	Snow	Snow	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	20	advmod	_	_
19	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	ccomp	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	Mirror	Mirror	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	Understanding	Understanding	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
31	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
32	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	36	nsubj	_	_
33	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	parataxis	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	40	amod	_	_
40	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	conj	_	_
41	in	in	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past |  | the Snow Queen |  | the middle of this lake |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent queen=Theme in middle=Location |
| 2 | **is** | past | Mirth |  |  | home |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Mirth |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **sit** | past · progressive | Mirth |  |  | the Mirror of Understanding |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in mirror=Location |
| 5 | **is a** | past | this | the only one and the best thing in the world |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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