--- title: They were very large slippers, which her mother had hitherto worn; s… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: They were very large slippers, which her mother had hitherto worn; so large were they; and the poor little thing lost them as she scuffled away across the street, because of two carriages that rolled by dreadfully fast. Who acts: slippers, poor little thing, thing. A sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Ta --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/24/4/) [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 Little Match Girl](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/24/) / 4 # Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Little Match Girl, sentence 4 They were very large slippers, which her mother had hitherto worn; so large were they; and the poor little thing lost them as she scuffled away across the street, because of two carriages that rolled by dreadfully fast. **Who acts:** slippers, poor little thing, thing · **What happens:** be, wear, lose, scuffle away, roll · **To what, where:** large slippers, mother, slippers, street, two carriages This is a sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Little Match Girl. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (slippers, poor little thing, thing), 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:pg1597:24:4 # text = They were very large slippers, which her mother had hitherto worn; so large were they; and the poor little thing lost them as she scuffled away across the street, because of two carriages that rolled by dreadfully fast. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 2 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 3 very very ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 4 large large ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 slippers slipper NOUN NNS Number=Plur 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 7 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 12 obj _ _ 8 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 9 nmod:poss _ _ 9 mother mother NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 nsubj:pass _ _ 10 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 aux _ _ 11 hitherto hitherto ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ _ 12 worn wear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 5 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 ; ; PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 14 so so ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ _ 15 large large ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 xcomp _ _ 16 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 cop _ _ 17 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 18 ; ; PUNCT : _ 24 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 21 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 22 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 23 thing thing NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nsubj _ _ 24 lost lose VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ _ 25 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 obj _ _ 26 as as SCONJ IN _ 28 mark _ _ 27 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 28 scuffled scuffle VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 advcl _ _ 29 away away ADV RB _ 28 advmod _ _ 30 across across ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 street street NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 34 because because ADP IN ExtPos=ADP 37 case _ _ 35 of of ADP IN _ 34 fixed _ _ 36 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 37 nummod _ _ 37 carriages carriage NOUN NNS Number=Plur 28 parataxis _ _ 38 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 39 nsubj:pass _ _ 39 rolled roll VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 37 acl:relcl _ _ 40 by by ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 dreadfully dreadfully ADV RB _ 42 advmod _ _ 42 fast fast ADV RB Degree=Pos 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | past | slippers *= slipper* | large slippers | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **wear** | past · perfect · passive | | Most's mother | | | | hitherto, large *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **is a** | past | | slippers *= slipper* | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **lose** | past | the poor little thing | slippers *= slipper* | | | | | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Eventuality | | 5 | **scuffle away** | past | thing | | | the street | | away *property* | vn battle-36.4 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **roll** | participle · passive | | two carriages | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: subject=Theme by fast=Trajectory | 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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/24/3/) - next →: [sentence 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/24/5/) - ↑ back to [The Little Match Girl](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/24/)