---
title: Out there, in the midst of the snow, there sat a woman in long, blac… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Out there, in the midst of the snow, there sat a woman in long, black clothes; and she said, “Death has been in thy chamber, and I saw him hasten away with thy little child; he goes faster than the wind, and he never brings back what he takes!” Who acts: woman, Death. A sentence of «Andersen's Fairy
---

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# Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Story of a Mother, sentence 12

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Out there, in the midst of the snow, there sat a woman in long, black clothes; and she said, “Death has been in thy chamber, and I saw him hasten away with thy little child; he goes faster than the wind, and he never brings back what he takes!”

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**Who acts:** woman, Death · **What happens:** sit, say, be, see, hasten away, go · **To what, where:** woman, midst, chamber, Death · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Story of a Mother. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (woman, Death), 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:pg1597:21:12
# text = Out there, in the midst of the snow, there sat a woman in long, black clothes; and she said, “Death has been in thy chamber, and I saw him hasten away with thy little child; he goes faster than the wind, and he never brings back what he takes!”
1	Out	out	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	midst	midst	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
11	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	12	expl	_	_
12	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
16	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
18	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	clothes	clothes	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
25	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	Death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
27	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
28	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	31	cop	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	chamber	chamber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
36	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	_
37	hasten	hasten	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	xcomp	_	_
38	away	away	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
39	with	with	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	42	nmod:poss	_	_
41	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	45	punct	_	_
44	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	goes	go	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
46	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	45	advmod	_	_
47	than	than	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
52	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
53	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	54	advmod	_	_
54	brings	bring	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
55	back	back	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	_
56	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	58	obj	_	_
57	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
58	takes	take	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	54	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	54	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	54	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past |  | a woman |  | the midst of the snow; there; there |  | in long black clothes | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: express* | past | woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present · perfect | Death |  |  | thy chamber |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **see** *in a quote* | past | woman | Death |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **hasten away** *in a quote* | infinitive | Death *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with thy little child; away *property* | vn rush-53.2 «NP V PP.eventuality»: agent=Agent with child=Eventuality |
| 6 | **go** *in a quote* | present | Death |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **bring back** *in a quote* | present | Death |  |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **take** *in a quote* | present | Death |  |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Theme |

<!-- .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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