---
title: The windows were quite frozen, the little boy was obliged to sit and… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The windows were quite frozen, the little boy was obliged to sit and breathe on them to get a peep-hole over to the old house, and there the snow had been blown into all the carved work and inscriptions; it lay quite up over the steps, just as if there was no one at home--nor was there any one at ho
---

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Old House, sentence 98

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The windows were quite frozen, the little boy was obliged to sit and breathe on them to get a peep-hole over to the old house, and there the snow had been blown into all the carved work and inscriptions; it lay quite up over the steps, just as if there was no one at home--nor was there any one at home--the old man was dead!

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**Who acts:** snow, old man · **What happens:** freeze, oblige, sit, breathe, get, blow · **To what, where:** windows, little boy, peep hole, snow, carved work, home

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This is a sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Old House. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (snow, old man), 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:pg1597:19:98
# text = The windows were quite frozen, the little boy was obliged to sit and breathe on them to get a peep-hole over to the old house, and there the snow had been blown into all the carved work and inscriptions; it lay quite up over the steps, just as if there was no one at home--nor was there any one at home--the old man was dead!
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	windows	window	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	frozen	freeze	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	67	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	obliged	oblige	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	breathe	breathe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
16	on	on	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
21	peep	peep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
24	over	over	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
31	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	36	expl	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj:pass	_	_
34	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	36	aux:pass	_	_
36	blown	blow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
37	into	into	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
38	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	41	det:predet	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	carved	carve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	41	amod	_	_
41	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	inscriptions	inscription	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	46	punct	_	_
45	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
46	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
47	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
48	up	up	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
49	over	over	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
53	just	just	ADV	RB	_	59	advmod	_	_
54	as	as	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
55	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	57	mark	_	_
56	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	57	expl	_	_
57	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	59	cop	_	_
58	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	59	det	_	_
59	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	parataxis	_	_
60	at	at	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	64	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	64	cc	_	_
64	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	67	cop	_	_
65	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	64	expl	_	_
66	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	67	det	_	_
67	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
68	at	at	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
69	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	67	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	75	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	73	det	_	_
72	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	73	amod	_	_
73	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	75	nsubj	_	_
74	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	75	cop	_	_
75	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	67	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
76	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	67	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **freeze** | past · passive |  | the windows |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Result |
| 2 | **oblige** | past · passive |  | the little boy |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result |
| 3 | **sit** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **breathe** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | on crevices *= crevice* | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Agent on they=Destination |
| 5 | **get** | to-infinitive |  | a peep hole |  |  |  | to the old house | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hole=Stimulus |
| 6 | **blow** | past · perfect · passive |  | the snow |  | all carved work and inscriptions; there |  |  | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: subject=Material into work=Product |
| 7 | **carve** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **lie** | past | snow |  |  |  |  | over the steps | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over step=Location |
| 9 | **is** | past |  |  |  | home |  | as no one | tree rules |
| 10 | **is a** | past |  | any frozen one |  | home |  |  | tree rules |
| 11 | **is** | past | the old man |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | 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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