---
title: He was dragging along some pointed flat pieces of ice, which he laid… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He was dragging along some pointed flat pieces of ice, which he laid together in all possible ways, for he wanted to make something with them; just as we have little flat pieces of wood to make geometrical figures with, called the Chinese Puzzle. Who acts: Kay, ice, we, little flat pieces. A sentenc
---

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Snow Queen, part 5, sentence 20

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He was dragging along some pointed flat pieces of ice, which he laid together in all possible ways, for he wanted to make something with them; just as we have little flat pieces of wood to make geometrical figures with, called the Chinese Puzzle.

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**Who acts:** Kay, ice, we, little flat pieces · **What happens:** drag, point, lay, want, make, have · **To what, where:** pointed flat pieces, possible ways, something, little flat pieces, geometrical figures, Chinese Puzzle · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Kay, ice, we, little flat pieces), 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:pg1597:15:20
# text = He was dragging along some pointed flat pieces of ice, which he laid together in all possible ways, for he wanted to make something with them; just as we have little flat pieces of wood to make geometrical figures with, called the Chinese Puzzle.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	dragging	drag	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	along	along	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	det	_	_
6	pointed	point	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	amod	_	_
7	flat	flat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
15	together	together	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	19	det	_	_
18	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	ways	way	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	25	obj	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	_
30	just	just	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
31	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
32	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	parataxis	_	_
34	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
35	flat	flat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obj	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	acl	_	_
41	geometrical	geometrical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	figures	figure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obj	_	_
43	with	with	ADP	IN	_	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
45	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	acl:relcl	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
47	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	Puzzle	puzzle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drag** | past · progressive | Kay |  |  | some pointed flat pieces of ice |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent along piece=Location |
| 2 | **point** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **lay** | past | ice |  |  | all possible ways |  | together *property* | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in way=Destination |
| 4 | **want** | past | Kay |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **make** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Kay *not said here* | something |  |  |  | with pieces *= piece* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset something=Product |
| 6 | **have** | present | we | little flat pieces of wood |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent piece=Patient |
| 7 | **make** | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | geometrical figures |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset figure=Product |
| 8 | **call** | participle | little flat pieces of wood *not said here* | the Chinese Puzzle |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «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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